What do termite mounds and the free market have in common?
Topic: Self-organisation
by Samuel, 2020 Cohort
Self-organisation is one of those terms that is better illustrated with an example than a sweeping definition. Consider a colony of cathedral termites (Nasutitermes triodiae) in Australia’s Northern Territory. Sometimes comprised of millions of individual insects, colonies co-operate to build immense shelters up to five metres high. These mounds are thermo-regulated by design: they are ventilated by an intricate network of tunnels, and are magnetically oriented along a north-south axis to maintain optimal sun exposure.
Yet the termites follow no pre-established plan or blueprint. There is no termite architect or foreman to direct this gargantuan effort. In fact, many worker termites are entirely blind, and cannot even see the structure they are building. Each termite merely follows a series of pheromone cues left by its neighbours, depositing chewed dirt and faeces where needed. The termite mound is not a product of external control or purposeful collective action; it emerges from millions of interactions between individual members of the colony. This is one of many examples of self-organisation in the natural world. Others include the inexplicably coordinated movements of schools of fish, or the shape of flocks of birds in flight.
Self-organisation, at its simplest, describes a process of pattern formation in complex systems. Although its definition is contested, self-organisation has several defining features. Firstly, the pattern formation is endogenous to the system- it occurs because of the many interactions between its component parts, without external direction. Secondly, these interactions occur on the basis of only local information. For example, each fish is only aware of the other fish adjacent to it, and not the movements of the entire school. And finally, as a result, the system has emergent properties- properties independent of its component parts. The pattern that emerges is beyond the control and knowledge of any individual
However, self-organisation has a much broader application than to biological systems. In the social sciences, where it is often called ‘spontaneous order’, proposed examples include the market economy, the development of languages, and the common law. The economy is perhaps the most apt example: conventional economic wisdom tells us that a stable pattern of equilibrium prices emerges from masses of interactions between self-interested economic agents. This market system ultimately shapes modes of social organisation, beyond the control (and well beyond the full understanding) of any individual actor. When one considers the complexity, efficiency and interconnectedness of a large city, it is easy to see why scientists such as Tim Flannery have drawn comparisons between human civilisations and ant colonies.
Finally, it is interesting to note that self-organisation has an increasing range of technological applications. Algorithms based on the behaviour of ants (‘ant colony optimisation algorithms’) have long been used to solve complex computational problems, such as optimising internet routing systems. More recently, the movement of insects has inspired the development of autonomous machines (‘swarm robotics’), with potential applications to disaster rescue missions, construction, agriculture, and regrettably most of all, warfare. It will undoubtably be fascinating to see how self-organising systems shape human endeavour in the coming century.
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