    2

    The Connectionist Explanation of the Mass Mind's Dreams

    The secret behind the problem-solving abilities of world views is

    the same as that behind the success of superorganisms.  It lies in the

    power of networks.

    One of the most irritating mathematical dilemmas facing

    computer scientists is the "traveling salesman problem."  Imagine that

    you're a salesman about to go out on a trip.  You've decided to visit ten

    different cities.  How would you figure out which town should come

    first on your route, which should come second, which should come

    next, etc. to give you the shortest mileage?  Simple, you'd just sit down

    with a map and have an answer in an instant.  But it's not that easy.

    Turns out that the potential number of sequences in which you could

    hit these ten destinations comes to 181,440.

    Well, how about flicking on the switch of your desktop pc?

    Unfortunately, a conventional computer is rather slow at solving

    traveling salesman problems.  Normal computers measure each

    potential routing one at a time.  With close to 200,000 different options

    to test, that's a time-consuming process.  And the traveling salesman

    dilemma is one that industry encounters all the time.  Phone

    companies laying cable, for example, run into variations on the

    conundrum that make the simple ten-city example look like child's

    play.  What's to be done?

    The stumbling block comes, in part, from the way normal

    computers are set up.  Looking at a problem only one small part at a

    time, they can't see the big picture.  In the mid-80's, however, a new

    breed of computer experts began to experiment with machines that can

    "explore" a broader canvas.  These are called "connectionist webs" or

    "neural nets."

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