Nascent Wisdom—Part 1

Science has gained some fascinating insights in recent years about how a large collection of cooperating critters can act far smarter than any one of them. The phenomenon is dubbed “emergent intelligence” or “swarm intelligence”. It’s one of many byproducts of the contemporary mathematical theories of complexity and chaos. Each of these theories recognizes that unanticipated characteristics emerge from processes that are so complex that they are hopelessly beyond the capabilities of traditional mathematics—processes that were once regarded as too chaotic to even attempt to analyze.

An attribute (and even a requirement) of swarm intelligence is that all members act independently; no one’s in charge. A familiar example that we’ve all seen is observed when you watch a large flock of birds or a school of fish. The “cloud” of flying or swimming creatures behaves as one organic whole. They change shape and flow smoothly, in a mesmerizing manner. The shape of the cloud instantly adjusts—ingeniously avoiding predators, confusing the attacker. Predators get their meal only if they can break up the mass, isolating a few individuals that they then go after.

The qualities of emergent intelligence were first observed and cataloged when scientists studied very simple-minded, social creatures. Few critters seem dumber than an ant. About all an individual ant can handle is directly reacting to its immediate environment, mostly by smell (pheromones) and touch. It can’t think; it can’t communicate by other means; it can’t plan tomorrow’s meal.

Yet a colony of ants accomplishes some amazingly sophisticated tasks. The group builds nests and roads, cares for the nursery, efficiently finds food, defends the colony, designates a spot for their graveyard and garbage dump, divvies up complicated and dove-tailing tasks, etc.

Here’s another ant example described by a recent scientific study. It details some pretty astonishing behaviors of leaf-cutter ants. In several ways their gardening abilities are smarter than your average human. This species of ant—acting cooperatively together—carries its freshly-cut leaf particles to “gardens,” where they practice a sophisticated form of sustainable agriculture. After being placed in those gardens, the leaf particles grow a fungus that the ants harvest and eat. But not all ant garden fungi are desirable; some are either regarded as weeds by the ants, or are even toxic. So the ants have a way of discerning and weeding out harmful parasites: they remove them from the garden and trash them a safe distance away. They also grow a type of bacteria on their bodies, that fight other pathogens trying to establish a foothold in their gardens. The leaf-cutter ants have “intelligently” discovered a sustainable way to keep their gardens pest free. That sure beats the destructive manner of human agribusiness!

More examples next time…