COMPLEX multicomponent societies rely principally on communication. Researchers suggest that evidence of 100 million years of communication gives us a deeper insight into the evolution of ant sociality. Emergent properties of groups occur when many things interact to produce effects that are not seen in the case of the isolated individual element.

From simple things like waves and crystals, to complex ones like swarms and consciousness, these effects are ubiquitous. In a world that evolves in the direction of increased complexity, considering what sort of emergent properties will or could occur becomes ever more important. From the perspective of political worldviews that value collective action, an understanding of emergent properties and collective effects is particularly compelling.

As we’ve written about before, the study of ants is one way that humans have found to think about the problems and benefits of collective and individual action. Although the study of ants can be interpreted to suit any political or philosophical argument, examining the myriad social organisations that are found in different ant species is fascinating as fuel for organisational imagination. Ants are eusocial insects, meaning that they live together in large groups, and have specialised roles within the colony.

Some colonies consist of millions of ants. Although emergent properties occur in assemblies of many different kinds of “elements,” those in groups of living organisms are propelled t.