[frankinstien]

An ant mill is a phenomenon that is a venerability of an army ant's means of finding direction from other ants. It was first observed in 1921 by William Beebe, who observed a mill 1200 ft (~370 m) in circumference. From an AI perspective, this could be devasting, not soo much for the AI but for humans blindly following it!

[ivan.moony]

poor guys 

[infurl]

That's what happens when you get social media. Human beings are no different.

Seriously though, it would be interesting to find out good ways to break cycles like that and save them. On the other hand, maybe such cycles serve a purpose. It could be that ant mills only occur when there are too many ants and they regulate the population or the activity of the ants, like aircraft in a holding pattern over a busy airport.

[Zero]

Yes it looks like a very general social pattern, and not a good one.

[MagnusWootton]

Thats how people start smoking and drinking and using drugs.  blind leading the blind.

But watch out...  its also how people wind up making killer robots.