Adam Jones Journal

Fifty or more years ago, honeybees, wasps, ants and termites were completely mysterious. No one had any idea how they worked. A single insect has almost no intelligence, as we define the word, but the colony performs very complex tasks and behaves as though the group itself was intelligent

Over the last fifty years, research has lead to theories of collective intelligence, swarm behavior, emergent systems and so on. Scientists figured out a few of the rules and then it became obvious that a lot of complex behavior could be described by simple rules

These ideas have been generalized to more abstract studies such as complex systems. Mathematicians have been studying the idea of rule based systems as a subject separate from living creatures.

Termites build gigantic mounds over the top of their nests. The exact way in which the mound operates is still open to debate, but researchers seem to agree that the mound provides temperature control and air circulation. This temperature control is necessary for the survival of the colonies of bacteria that the termites farm as their food source.

Consider a level surface on which termites and chips of wood are scattered. The termites would "like" to build a mound from those chips of wood. All of the wood chips should be collected into one place. The Termites act independently of each other, and move on the basis of an observed local pheromone gradient and a few simple rules. (A Pheromone is a chemical excreted by the insect which evaporates and disperses over time. )

Each termite follows these rules:

1. If it detects a certain pheromone it moves in the direction of increasing strength of that pheromone. That is, it moves in the direction of the apparent source of the pheromone. Otherwise it moves randomly.
    
2. Each termite may carry only one chip at a time.
    
3.  If a termite is not carrying a chip of wood and it encounters one, the termite will pick it up.
    
4. If a termite is already carrying a chip and it encounters another chip, the termite will put the chip down and infuse it with a certain amount of pheromone.

The 'attractiveness' of any hill depends on how many chips it contains and how long it has been since those chips were placed there. It might also depend on which way the breeze is blowing.

Watching this happen in an actual termite hill would take a while, but it's possible to write a computer program that demonstrates the rules. You can watch as simulated termites first collect simulated chips into small piles and then further move the chips into larger piles. At the end of the simulation, all of the chips have been gathered into a single heap.

It's easy to miss the fact that intelligence has little to do with what is going on. When a termite is wandering around with a chip in his mouth, the probability is higher that he will drop that chip on one of the larger piles of chips. The larger pile covers more space, and contains more of the attractive pheremone.

A related question might be: is this a bug's version of "the rich get richer".

(Different species build mounds in various ways and out of various materials. The above is an illustration of one way it happens.)

One researcher, the chimpanzee, has figured out termite rules. A chimpanzee found out that he could insert a thin stick into a termite mound and wiggle it a little. A termite will clamp his jaws onto the stick and can be fished out for a small snack.

Chimps teach this skill to their children who practice until they get it right.

You don't need to know all of the rules if you know the ones that work to your benefit.