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3 - Superorganisms and Group Minds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2026

Patrick McNamara
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

I consider how group minds emerge and manifest in the eusocial insect colonies such as that of the honeybee and whether we can learn anything about human group minds from these “superorganisms.” I show that we can, especially with respect to how group minds form via specialized methods for cooperation and suppression of intra-colony conflict. We also learn how group minds develop aggressive personalities (simply add members with aggressive physiologies), and how group minds attempt to protect against parasitization from other colonies/group minds. Finally, we learn the key to eusocial cooperation in groups – namely, assigning reproduction to one caste and making other castes sterile and helpers at the nest.

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