Giorgio Bertini
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Category Archives: Social insects
The ant colony as a test for scientific theories of consciousness
The appearance of consciousness in the universe remains one of the major mysteries unsolved by science or philosophy. Absent an agreed-upon definition of consciousness or even a convenient system to test theories of consciousness, a confusing heterogeneity of theories proliferate. … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness, Social insects
Tagged consciousness, social insects
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Accessibility in Networks: Understanding Social Insect Nest Architecture
Networks and the associated tools from graph theory have now become well-established approaches to study natural as well as human-made systems. While early studies focused on topology and connectivity, the recent literature has acknowledged the importance of the dynamical properties … Continue reading
Social Insects: A Model System for Network Dynamics
Social insect colonies (ants, bees, wasps, and termites) show sophisticated collective problem-solving in the face of variable constraints. Individuals exchange information and materials such as food. The resulting network structure and dynamics can inform us about the mechanisms by which … Continue reading
Deleuze Appreciating the Intelligence of Insects
This article will be a brief examination of the some of the concepts found in the philosophy of the French writer Gilles Deleuze, with the ant colony as an example of how its insights can be applied. The philosophy of … Continue reading
The Evolution of Extreme Altruism and Inequality in Insect Societies
In eusocial organisms, some individuals specialize in reproduction and others in altruistic helping. The evolution of eusociality is, therefore, also the evolution of remarkable inequality. For example, a colony of honeybees (Apis mellifera) may contain 50 000 females all of … Continue reading
Posted in Altruism, Colonial life, Eusociality, Evolution, Inequality, Social insects
Tagged altruism, colonial life, eusociality, evolution, inequality, social insects
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One giant leap: How Insects achieved Altruism and Colonial Life
The advanced colonial state of eusociality has evolved in insects as a defense of nest sites within foraging distance of persistent food sources. In the Hymenoptera, the final step in the approach to eusociality is through a suite of preadaptations … Continue reading
Posted in Altruism, Colonial life, Eusociality, Evolution, Social insects, Sociobiology
Tagged altruism, colonial life, eusociality, evolution, social insects, sociobiology
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Swarm Cognition: Termites
Eusociality has evolved independently at least twice among the insects: among the Hymenoptera (ants and bees), and earlier among the Isoptera (termites). Studies of swarm intelligence, and by inference, swarm cognition, have focused largely on the bees and ants, while … Continue reading
Posted in Social insects, Stigmergy, Super-organism, Swarm cognition
Tagged social insect, stigmergy, superorganism, swarm cognition
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The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
The Superorganism promises to be one of the most important scientific works published in this decade. Coming eighteen years after the publication of The Ants, this new volume expands our knowledge of the social insects (among them, ants, bees, wasps, … Continue reading
Posted in Biological organization, Social insects
Tagged biological organization, social insects
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