Honeybee Democracy

If a leader shows partiality at the outset of the deliberations, or expresses displeasure if the discussion is not going in a certain direction, then he or she is likely to subvert good group decision making.

Each intrepid scout bee works by herself, diligently poking around tree trunks and rock outcrops in search of small, dark openings that might lead to a suitably roomy and protective nest cavity. Whenever a scout chances upon a possible dwelling place, she scrutinizes it and, if it proves acceptable, she returns to the swarm and freely reports her d

swarm bees choose their new home without a leader integrating information from different sources or telling the others what to do.

Lesson 5: Use Quorum Responses for Cohesion, Accuracy, and Speed

the logical first step toward solving the problem is to uncover a profusion of possible solutions in the hope that one will prove excellent.

there are certain things we can do to encourage ourselves to work together.

a nifty rule that helps ensure that every participant at the town meeting gets to express his or her thoughts on each issue; no one may speak more than twice on a particular issue until everyone who wants to speak on the issue has had an opportunity to do so once.

the 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of bees in a honeybee swarm, just like the 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of neurons in a human brain, achieve their collective wisdom by organizing themselves in such a way that even though each individual has limited information and limited intelligence, the group as a whole makes first-rate collective decisions.

Thus the scout bees make use of the power of communication to help good ideas spread while at the same time they avoid the risk of creating an information cascade about an inferior site. By evaluating sites independently, they invest their attention wisely.