“I used to think ants knew what they were doing. The ones marching across my kitchen counter looked so confident, I just figured they had a plan, knew where they were going and what needed to be done. How else could ants organize highways, build elaborate nests, stage epic raids, and do all the other things ants do?

Turns out I was wrong. Ants aren’t clever little engineers, architects or warriors after all-at least not as individuals. When it comes to deciding what to do next, … ants don’t have a clue, If you watch an ant try to accomplish something, you’ll be impressed by how inept it is. Ants aren’t smart…ant colonies are. A colony can solve problems unthinkable for individual ants. As individuals, ants are tiny dummies, but as colonies they respond…effectively to their environment…with something called swarm intelligence”

The above quote is from an article I just read in the July issue of National Geographic. Now I understand why we put all our politicians together in a group up in Washington DC. Hopefully some kind of swarm intelligence will emerge to solve the problems that none of the individuals can grasp.