Definition
An ant colony is a society of individual ants whose collective behavior — foraging, defense, caste regulation, nest construction — is far more sophisticated than any individual ant's behavior. In Gödel, Escher, Bach, "Aunt Hillary" is an ant colony with personality and conversational ability, used to illustrate how intelligence at one level can emerge from non-intelligence at a lower level.
Why it matters
How it works
Each ant follows simple chemical-signal rules: deposit pheromone where food is found, follow stronger pheromone gradients, switch tasks based on hunger or contact rates. The colony has no central planner. Over time the colony's collective behavior optimizes foraging routes, balances caste populations, defends the nest, and adapts to environmental change — all without any single ant having more than a local view.