Will I love Honeybee Democracy?

In this book, Seeley takes you into honeybee hives with him to visit the denizens of these remarkable societies that humans have been fascinated with for thousands of years.

In an era when democracy itself seems under siege in our own species, after your hive tours are complete, you may walk away with hope that at least one species on this planet has mastered the art of self-sacrifice and communal living.

This is another scientific book by an inspiring colleague. This time, Tom focuses more specifically on collective intelligence in honeybees. We learn in great detail how large groups of animals manage to agree based on partial knowledge and different opinions, often leading to optimal decisions.

The author makes bold but justified parallels with collective decisions in human societies. There is a lot to learn!

Social insects live in close communities, often of several thousand individuals. We often imagine the animals as small robots that perform their tasks as if automated. But this is far from the case. Honeybees are models for the study of learning and can also make complex decisions based on previous experience. However, it becomes particularly difficult when all the animals of a hive have to agree. And bees of a swarm have this difficult task ahead of them when they are looking for real estate. They inspect the nesting opportunities in the surroundings and advertise them in the swarm.

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