Editing Stigmergy (section)

==History==
The term "stigmergy" was introduced by French biologist [[Pierre-Paul Grassé]] in 1959 to refer to [[termite]] behavior. He defined it as: "Stimulation of workers by the performance they have achieved." It is derived from the Greek words [[wikt:στίγμα|στίγμα]] ''stigma'' "mark, sign" and [[wikt:ἔργον|ἔργον]] ''ergon'' "work, action", and captures the notion that an agent’s actions leave signs in the environment, signs that it and other agents sense and that determine and incite their subsequent actions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grassé |first1=Pierre-Paul |title=La reconstruction du nid et les coordinations interindividuelles chez ''Bellicositermes natalensis'' et ''Cubitermes sp.'' la théorie de la stigmergie: Essai d'interprétation du comportement des termites constructeurs |journal=Insectes Sociaux |date=1959 |volume=6 |pages=41–80 |doi=10.1007/BF02223791}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bonabeau|first=Eric|year=1999|title=Editor's Introduction: Stigmergy|journal=Artificial Life|volume=5|issue=2|pages=95–96|doi=10.1162/106454699568692|s2cid=35422936|issn=1064-5462}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Theraulaz | first = Guy | title = A Brief History of Stigmergy | journal = Artificial Life | volume = 5 | issue = 2 | pages = 97–116 | date = 1999 | doi = 10.1162/106454699568700 | pmid = 10633572 | s2cid = 27679536 }}</ref>

Later on, a distinction was made between the stigmergic phenomenon, which is specific to the guidance of additional work, and the more general, non-work specific incitation, for which the term ''sematectonic'' communication was coined<ref>[[Sociobiology: The New Synthesis]], E.O. Wilson, 1975/2000, p.186</ref> by [[E. O. Wilson]], from the Greek words [[wikt:σῆμα|σῆμα]] ''sema'' "sign, token", and [[wikt:τέκτων|τέκτων]] ''tecton'' "craftsman, builder": "There is a need for a more general, somewhat less clumsy expression to denote the evocation of any form of behavior or physiological change by the evidences of work performed by other animals, including the special case of the guidance of additional work."

Stigmergy is now one of the key concepts in the field of [[swarm intelligence]].<ref name="parunak">Parunak, H. v D. (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20141112185202/http://abcresearch.org/papers/MSH03.pdf "Making swarming happen."] In Proc. of Conf. on Swarming and Network Enabled Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), McLean, Virginia, USA, January 2003.</ref>