Ant intelligence; queen does not rule the colony II (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, April 18, 2020, 19:26 (1680 days ago) @ David Turell

Discussion of a distributive system continues:

https://aeon.co/essays/how-ant-societies-point-to-radical-possibilities-for-humans?utm_...

"At least in the short term, a system organised by a distributed process and one organised by division of labour could look the same: the same individuals could do the same task over and over. An ant might do the same task day after day. It might go out to forage, come back to the nest, engage again in the interactions that stimulate it to forage, and spend the night among other ants that recently returned from foraging. The next morning, it is again in a situation in which it is likely to forage, and this could continue day after day. However, in different conditions, the ant might do another task, and so its role is not fixed.

"Distributed processes and division of labour can both be effective, but they don’t function in the same way. For division of labour, specialisation can lead to better work. By contrast, in a distributed process, the fact that individuals are interchangeable makes the whole system more robust and more resilient. If the individual who performs a task gets lost or becomes unfit to do it, another can step in. The individuals don’t have to be all alike, but the differences among them are not large enough to affect the viability of the system.

***

"The term ‘distributed process’ originated in computer science. There, it means that no single unit, such as a router in a data network, knows what all the others are doing and tells them what to do. Instead, interactions between each unit and its local connections add up to the desired outcome. Distributed processes often operate in parallel rather than in series. An assembly line works in series: the handle of the car door must be put on before the door is installed, and the door can’t be installed until the person who puts on the handle has finished. In a parallel process, different steps can be done at the same time. Suppose each worker built a car from beginning to end. Then if one worker takes a little longer to put on the door handle on one car, this will not affect when the next worker can install the door on their car. If all the tasks are relatively simple, parallel processes go much faster than serial ones. This is true of computers, in which the logic gates perform very simple tasks, creating electrical versions of 1s and 0s. Compared with processing in series, parallel processing makes it possible to accomplish far more elaborate operations in a short time.

***

"Ants can show how distributed processes might allow us to adjust to a changing environment; to build nests, decide when to move, or change from working inside the nest to foraging outside. It is becoming clear that the ant colonies’ algorithms are diverse, in interesting ways. Similar processes are at work in other natural systems without central control. For example, although certain large regions of the brain seem to be involved in particular tasks, at the level of neurons it looks like division of labour is not the rule. The same neurons are involved in different tasks, and the same task can be accomplished by different neurons.
(my bold)

***

"So why is the ant colony as a factory of specialised workers such a compelling image? First, it’s familiar: a little city of ants, each carrying out its assigned job, is a miniature version of a human city. It’s comforting to imagine that each ant gets up in the morning, drinks its coffee, grabs its briefcase and goes off to work. To envisage how an ant’s task of the moment arises from a pulsing network of brief, meaningless interactions might compel us instead to ponder what really accounts for why each of us has a particular job. (my bold)

Comment: The short remainder discusses an application to human society. The key points, as I see it, fits what was described in the past. The individual ant reacts to a current situation as he is programmed to do. And whether it is bridge building or foraging, he knows what to do. The author with more research, disagrees with E.O. Wilson as he describes ant colonies. Algorithms, not individual intelligence are found. All the bolds note the lack of individual intelligent decision making. My key thought is simple and direct: if one is looking for intelligence as a source of organized activity, one will find it depending upon one's disposition, at the individual level or at the programmed level, but it will not be both. Can you support your predisposition with fact?

The discussion about this type of organization in neurons may help us understand how our brain is organized and performs its thought processes in concert with its soul.