Groups — swarms, flocks, herds, mobs — produce complex behaviors from simple rules:
Golden Shiners
Behavior: Seek darkness
Presumably for protection, shiners search out dark waters. But they can’t actually perceive changes in light levels that might guide their way. Instead, they follow one simple directive: When light disappears, slow down. As a result, the fish in a school pile up in dark pools and stay put.
Ants
Behavior: Work in rhythm
When ants of a certain species get crowded enough to bump into each other, coordinated waves of activity pulse through every 20 minutes.
Humans
Behavior: Be a follower
Absent normal communication, humans can be as impressionable as a flock of sheep. If one member of a walking group is instructed to move toward a target, though other members may not know the target—or even that there is a target—the whole group will eventually be shepherded in its direction.
Locusts
Behavior: Cannibalism
When enough locusts squeeze together, bites from behind send individuals fleeing to safety. Eventually they organize into conga-line-like clusters to avoid being eaten. They also emit pheromones to attract even more locusts, resulting in a swarm.
Starlings
Behavior: Do what the neighbors do
These birds coordinate their speed and direction with just a half dozen of their closest murmuration-mates, regardless of how packed the flock gets. Those interactions are enough to steer the entire group in the same direction.
Honeybees
Behavior: Head-butting
When honeybees return from searching for a new nest, they waggle in a dance that identifies the location. But if multiple sites exist, a bee can advocate for its choice by ramming its head into other waggling bees. A bee that gets butted enough times stops dancing, ultimately leaving the hive with one option.
Governments
Behavior: Grow
Whether in geographic or legal reach, regulation or head count, or simply physical resources, governments require ‘more’ to ‘get the job done.’
What the job itself is relatively unimportant compared to the requirement to extend reach, control, and power over a given domain or people. The prime directive: Never reduce in size, for this shows that government may not necessarily be “the alpha male.” There can only be one “government”; multiple governments is an aberration, to be corrected by the diligent application of mobs, local police forces, and armies, as appropriate.