<story><title>A Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges</title><url>https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-algorithm-that-ants-use-to-build-bridges-20180226/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>maskedinvader</author><text>WOW, this is simple indeed, amazing how individual interactions shape collective behavior and form complex solutions.It would be even more fascinating to find out what the evolutionary path was that lead to this algorithm being picked from the presumably several similar algorithms. I am assuming similar interactions and simple instructions lead to fire ants in south america forming rafts during flooding as discussed here [1] , also it helps that ants can lift almost 5000 times its own weight [2].
Ive always been fascinated by ants and their social structure, first introduced to their amazing skills in Richard Dawking&amp;#x27;s &amp;#x27;The Selfish Gene&amp;#x27; -[3]&lt;p&gt;1.&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&amp;#x2F;sciencetech&amp;#x2F;article-1380471&amp;#x2F;Survival-strategy-tropical-ants-form-living-raft-avoid-drowning.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&amp;#x2F;sciencetech&amp;#x2F;article-1380471&amp;#x2F;Survi...&lt;/a&gt;
2. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;entomologytoday.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;ants-can-lift-up-to-5000-times-their-own-body-weight-new-study-suggests&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;entomologytoday.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;ants-can-lift-up-to-5...&lt;/a&gt;
3. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Selfish-Gene-Popular-Science&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;0192860925&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Selfish-Gene-Popular-Science&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;01928...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>A Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges</title><url>https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-algorithm-that-ants-use-to-build-bridges-20180226/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>anonytrary</author><text>And this is why we need to study emergent protocols. Emergence is the bedrock of nature and mechanics. Many seemingly useless nodes can do spectacular things with some very, very simple assumptions. The output space is huge. See, for example, Conway&amp;#x27;s Game of Life. Small parts and simple rules can lead to incredibly rich output.&lt;p&gt;This kind of thing is responsible for much, much more than ant behavior.</text></comment>