Cognitive glues are shared models of relative scarcities: the economics of collective intelligence

Collective intelligence has emergent problem-solving capacities that are different than those of its subunits. The plethora of multi-scale systems within nature and society makes it imperative to understand the interaction policies necessary and sufficient for emergence of collective intelligences. The economy is a complex system consisting of autonomous elements at multiple scales and which exhibits adaptive problem-solving capabilities, suggesting that the economy offers an interesting, important example of collective intelligence. We identify the price system as the cognitive glue of the economy by acting as a coordinating affordance that enables members to form plans that are mutually compatible. Using the collective intelligence framework of Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere, we elaborate on various aspects of the economy that make it useful to model the economy as a collective intelligence. We argue that any cognitive glue must solve the same kind of problem that the price system solves in broadly the same way that the price system solves it, and thus the price system serves as a generic template or abstract model for all cognitive glues. Finally, we describe some research ideas that combine concepts from biology and economics in the hopes of inspiring interdisciplinary collaboration. This article is part of the theme issue 'World models in natural and artificial intelligence'.