A fascinating story of collective wisdom and effective decision-making
Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley dives into the democratic decision-making process of honeybees when it comes to selecting a new hive location. The insights gained from bees' collective decision-making can inform human group decision-making.
Much to the distress of beekeepers everywhere, there’s one event that happens every year. In late spring or early summer, two-thirds of all the honeybees in a hive gather into a big, buzzing ball and form a cluster on a nearby tree branch. They stay there for a few hours or days before finally buzzing off to a brand new home.
But how do they choose their new home? How do they make sure it’s big and safe enough for a whole hive of bees? And, when they all fly there together, how do they know where to go?
As the author has discovered over decades of careful research, the process by which bees find a new nest site is both fascinating and democratic. So much so, that we could learn from it ourselves.
The key message here is: Each year, honeybees choose a new nest site through a complex, democratic process.
Humans have been fascinated by bees for centuries, and have kept them for honey since ancient Egyptian times. But it was only in the twentieth century that we began to understand much about them, and a lot of that work was done by a pioneering German scientist named Martin Lindauer.
One day in 1949, Lindauer was gazing at a swarm of bees when he noticed something unusual. A few bees were performing waggle dances – the movements that bees use to tell each other where nectar is located. But these particular waggle dances weren’t quite the same as normal. For one, the dancers weren’t carrying any pollen, as they normally would. Plus, a lot of them seemed to be dirty – one was covered with soot, another with brick dust, and yet another with what seemed to be flour.
Lindauer had a suspicion. Had these bees been out scouting for a new home?
It took years of experiments, but Lindauer eventually confirmed his hypothesis – and, later, the author continued this line of research in the United States. The more the scientists uncovered about the complex process by which bees make the life-or-death decision of where to build their home, the more impressed they became with the bees’ democratic debating skills. These days, the author even uses methods inspired by honeybees when he chairs meetings!
All in all, the nest-finding process is so enthralling that it’s worth examining in detail. And that’s what we’ll do in the next few blinks.
Honeybee Democracy (2010) traces the fascinating story of how bees decide where to build their new hive. Using highly evolved skills, like independent research and community debate, the bees’ deeply democratic decision-making process is a model we can all learn from.
Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.
Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.
Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll
Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.
Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.
Hol dir mit Blinkist die besten Erkenntnisse aus mehr als 7.000 Sachbüchern und Podcasts. In 15 Minuten lesen oder anhören!
Jetzt kostenlos testen
Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
