Stigmergy 

Ruth Aylett

A student nips across the grass
to grab a coffee before the next lecture starts

followed by another who needs a sugar rush
and her boyfriend, who has to go where she does

then the lecturer who wants an egg sandwich 
to eat over all that marking in the office

and the head of department taking a visitor
for a free – to them at least - lunch. 

All following the indentation of earlier steps.

And a week or so will pass
producing a socially-negotiated
uncentrally-planned path.

Please do come and add asphalt.

The Science

Stigmergy is communication via the environment. It is one of the mechanisms through which emergent behaviour self-organises, as in ant pheromone trails, or in this case, desire paths. Desire paths form when people walk where they can see other people have already walked.

The Poet

Ruth Aylett teaches and researches AI and robotics in Edinburgh and has been known to appear at readings with a robot. She considers dynamic systems and emergent behaviour the most likely source of human consciousness. Her poems are widely published in magazines and anthologies. Two pamphlets Pretty in Pink (4Word) and Queen of Infinite Space (Maytree) were published in 2021. See www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/writing.html for more.

Next poem: Tanis, Emerged by Karen Warinsky