Mindless Collectives Better at Rational Decision-Making Than Brainy Individuals

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 13:14 in Psychology & Sociology

Humans often make irrational choices when faced with challenging decisions. Ant colonies, however, can make perfectly rational selections when confronted by tough dilemmas. This isn't because lone ants are especially knowledgeable--they're not. Instead, when ants are grouped together, a kind of "wisdom of the crowds" avoids the kind of mistakes that individuals can make, new research shows. [More]

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