superorganisms
Hive-mind biological units
Superorganisms are colonies or groups of organisms that function as a single unified entity.
The term applies especially to social insects—ant colonies, beehives, termite mounds—where individual members are so interdependent that the colony itself behaves like one organism, with division of labor analogous to cells in a body.
The hive acts as a superorganism, with each bee serving a specialized role.
The concept extends to any tightly integrated biological system where the whole exhibits properties beyond what individual members possess.
Dependent territorial settlement
- hiveBee dwelling structure
- ant colonySocial insect community
- termite moundNest built from soil
- swarmMass of moving insects
bee colony · collective · queen · workers · drones · caste system · pheromones · division of labor
Interconnected organisms and surroundings
- biosphereAll life on Earth
- symbiosisInterspecies biological interdependence
- interconnectionMutual joining of parts
- planetaryOf or relating to worlds
homeostasis · coral reef · forest · biodiversity · interdependence · web of life · biogeochemical · climate regulation
Legally separate business entity
- cityLarge populated area
- societyOrganized communal human existence
- nationSovereign political entity
- hivemindUnified group consciousness
collective intelligence · internet · crowd · swarm intelligence · network · distributed system · emergent behavior · groupthink
Coming into existence
- collective behaviorUnified group conduct patterns
- information processingHandling and interpreting data
- feedbackReturned response data
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
robustness · modularity · Wheeler · Wilson · sociobiology · evolutionary biology
colony
Dependent territorial settlement
- hiveBee dwelling structure
- ant colonySocial insect community
- termite moundNest built from soil
bee colony · swarm · collective · queen · workers · drones · caste system · pheromones · division of labor · nest
ecosystem
Interconnected organisms and surroundings
- biosphereAll life on Earth
- symbiosisInterspecies biological interdependence
- interconnectionMutual joining of parts
planetary · homeostasis · coral reef · forest · biodiversity · interdependence · web of life · biogeochemical · climate regulation · holistic
corporation
Legally separate business entity
hivemind · collective intelligence · internet · crowd · swarm intelligence · network · distributed system · emergent behavior · groupthink · gestalt
emergence
Coming into existence
- collective behaviorUnified group conduct patterns
- information processingHandling and interpreting data
- feedbackReturned response data
resilience · robustness · modularity · Wheeler · Wilson · sociobiology · evolutionary biology
superorganismssingle-celled organisms
Organisms lacking multicellularity