Steven Johnson, "The Myth of the Ant Queen"

Questions for Making Connections within the Reading:  

1. Do you accept Johnson's analogy between the behavior of harvester ants and the emergence of cities like Manchester? Does Johnson mean that instinct guides human builders in much the same way as it guides the ants? Does he mean that in both cases an order has emerged entirely by accident? Or does he mean that there is something about "systems" in general-ant colonies as well as sprawling conurbations-that makes them self-organizing? What exactly is a self-organizing system, and how do both the ant colony and the city qualify as equally appropriate examples? How does each system organize itself?  

2. The idea of self-organizing systems might seem to suggest that order automatically and smoothly arises as ants and human beings go about their private business. Can Manchester in the nineteenth century, when Napier, Dickens, and Engels each observed it, be described as orderly? Was there an order behind the apparent disorder? How can we distinguish between a self-organizing system and the results that are produced entirely by chance?  

3. One could say that there are three different parts to "The Myth of the Ant Queen." The first deals with the colony of harvester ants. The second deals with the city of Manchester. The third deals with the emergence of complexity theory. In what ways are these three parts connected? Why doesn't Johnson make the connections more explicit-why does he leave them for the reader to work out? Could the structure of his chapter in some way reflect the nature of his argument about self-organization?  

Questions for Writing:  

1. What role does intelligence play in self-organizing systems? This question might be more complex than it seems at first because intelligence may exist on multiple levels. The intelligence demonstrated by an ant colony may be much greater than the intelligence of an individual ant. On any particular day during the 1880s, life in Manchester must have seemed to many people very close to absolute chaos, but could it be said that the city as a whole possessed a certain intelligence? Does Johnson mean to suggest that the ideas and aspirations of individuals do not matter? Are we, from the standpoint of complexity theory, intelligent beings? What is intelligence, anyway?  

2. Families, communities, schools, religious groups, circles of friends, political parties, public service organizations-all of these qualify as social institutions, and there are many others. Choose one institution and, drawing on Johnson's chapter, decide whether it qualifies as truly self-organizing. If it does not, can you imagine how it might be reorganized in a bottom-up fashion? In what ways do our customs and traditions encourage or discourage self-organization? What do you conclude from the importance of kings, presidents, generals, CEOs, bosses, coaches, principals, and other leaders in our culture?  

Questions for Making Connections Between Readings:  

1. Do self-organizing systems manage, as time goes on, to insulate themselves from the influence of chance? Does chance continue to play a role, or does it actually become even more important? To explore these questions, you might consider the examples that Johnson provides-the ant colony, the city, and the development of the science of complexity. But you might also consider Edward Tenner's discussion of technology and unintended consequences. Although technology appears to make life safer and more stable, it also exposes us to "revenge effects." Does self-organization protect us from these effects, or might it make them more likely?  

2. At first glance, Robert Thurman's claim that we have no permanent or essential self may seem like sheer nonsense, since, clearly, each of us is a self or has one. But does "the self," as we call it, actually represent a self-organizing system, more like an ant colony than a single ant, or more like a city than a single neighborhood? As you work through this question, you should move beyond the two texts to consider your own experience. Are you always the same person from one moment to the next? To what degree is your identity at any particular time shaped by your interactions with others? Can you accurately predict what you will be like ten years from now? Ten months? Ten days?

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