I came across a “review” of The Lives of Ants by Keller and Gordon. The book seems to have been very well received across several publications. Here is the Economist‘s “review” kindly sent to me by Shannon Selin.
This pheromone-driven behaviour means that although single ants are not clever, collectively they are capable of complex tasks. Such “swarm intelligence” is of huge interest to scientists and has already led to practical applications. Unilever, for instance, has used a computer program based on swarm intelligence to organise movements between storage tanks, mixers and packing lines in one of its factories.
Though Keller and Gordon (nor the reviewer) do not seem to invoke the term stigmergy, they do of course discuss swarm intelligence. This work follows in the wake of Sunstein’s Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge and Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, neither of which are particularly deep. Still, it’s nice to see ideas such as these enter the popular domain.
manwithoutqualities 