Ants aren't clever little engineers, architects, or warriors, at least not as individuals.
개미는영리한작은기술자나건축가, 전사가아니다, 적어도개인만큼은아니다.
"Ants aren't smart, but ant colonies are," says Deborah M. Gordon, a biologist at Stanford University.
스탠포드대학의생물학자데보라M. 고든은"개미들은똑똑하지않지만개미집단은똑똑하다"고말한다.
A colony can solve problems unthinkable for individual ants, such as finding the shortest path to the best food source, allocating workers to different tasks, or defending a territory from neighbors.
As individuals, ants might not be smart, but as colonies they respond quickly and effectively to their environment.
개체으로서, 개미는영리하지않을수도있지만, 집단으로서그들은환경에빠르고효과적으로반응한다.
They do it with something called swarm intelligence.
그들은그것을집단지능이라고불리는것으로한다.
It means the collective behavior of a group of animals, especially social insects that are each following very basic rules.
이것은동물집단, 특히매우기본적인규칙을따르는사회적곤충들의집단행동을의미한다.
We can find many more examples of this swarm intelligence from bees, herring, and so on, in addition to ants.
우리는이집단지능의더많은예들을벌, 청어등으로부터찾을수있다.
How do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behavior of a group?
개인의단순한행동이어떻게그룹의복잡한행동에더해지는가?
How do hundreds of honeybees make a critical decision about their hive if many of them disagree?
많은꿀벌들이동의하지않는다면어떻게그들의벌집에대한중요한결정을내릴까?
What enables a school of herring to coordinate its movements precisely so that it may change direction in a flash, like a single, silvery organism?
청어떼가은색단일유기체처럼순식간에방향을바꿀수있도록정확하게움직임을조정할수있게하는것은무엇인가?
None of them grasps the big picture, but each of them contributes to the group's success.
그들중아무도큰그림을좋아하지않지만, 그들각각은그룹의성공에기여한다.
The collective abilities of such animals seem miraculous even to the biologists who know them best.
그런동물들의집단적능력은그들을가장잘아는생물학자들에게조차기적처럼보인다.
Where does this swarm intelligence come from, then?
그럼이무리지능은어디서온거지?
During the past few decades, researchers have come up with intriguing insights.
지난몇십년동안연구원들은흥미로운통찰력을얻었다.
One key to an ant colony, for example, is that no one's in charge.
예를들어, 개미서식지의한가지열쇠는아무도책임지지않는다는것이다.
No generals command ant warriors.
어떤장군도개미전사를지휘하지않는다.
No managers boss ant workers.
어떤관리자도개미노동자를감독하지않는다.
The queen plays no role except to lay eggs.
여왕은알을낳는것외에는아무역할도하지않는다.
Even with half a million ants, a colony functions just fine with no management at all.
50만마리의개미가있어도, 집단은아무런관리없이잘기능한다.
It relies instead upon countless interactions between individual ants, each of which is following simple rules of thumb.
대신그것은단순한경험법칙을따르는개미의수많은상호작용에의존한다.
Scientists describe such a system as self-organizing.
과학자들은그러한시스템을자기조직화라고설명한다.
That's how swarm intelligence works:
그것이집단지능이작용하는방법이다:
simple creatures following simple rules, each one acting on local information.
단순한법칙을따르는단순한생물체들은각각지역정보에따라행동한다.
No ant sees the big picture.
어떤개미도큰그림을보지못한다.
No ant tells any other ant what to do.
어떤개미도다른개미에게무엇을하라고말하지않는다.
No leadership is required.
리더쉽이필요없다.
Even complex behavior may be coordinated by relatively simple interactions.
복잡한행동조차도비교적단순한상호작용에의해조정될수있다.
Different animals have different methods of interaction.
다른동물들은서로다른상호작용방법을가지고있다.
For example, ants leave a trail of pheromones so that other ants may follow them.
예를들어, 개미들은다른개미들이따라올수있도록페로몬흔적을남긴다.
A key component of bee interaction is movement.
벌상호작용의핵심요소는움직임이다.
When bees need to move their hive to a new place, scout bees go out in search of a suitable place to live in.
벌들이벌집을새로운곳으로옮겨야할때, 정찰벌들은살기에알맞은곳을찾아밖으로나간다.
When they return, they each do a type of dance.
그들이돌아오면, 그들은각각일종의춤을춘다.
The happier the bee is about the new location, the faster the dance is.
벌이새로운장소에대해더행복할수록춤은더빨라진다.
In addition, the dance includes a code with directions to the new location.
게다가, 춤은새로운장소로가는길안내를포함하고있다.
The excited dancers excite other scout bees.
흥분한댄서들은다른정찰벌들을흥분시킨다.
These bees then fly out to check out the new locations.
그리고나서이벌들은새로운장소를확인하기위해날아간다.
They come back, get close together, and dance with the other excited bees.
그들은돌아와서, 서로친해지고, 흥분한다른벌들과춤을춘다.
The bees will not move until they are all excited, or in agreement about the best location.
벌들은흥분하거나가장좋은위치에대한합의에이를때까지움직이지않을것이다.
Once a large enough group of bees all agree, they convince the thousands of other bees.
일단충분히큰무리의벌들이모두동의하면, 그들은수천마리의다른벌들을설득한다.
Then they all fly together to the new location.
그리고나서그들은모두함께새로운장소로날아간다.
Scientists are realizing how effective swarm intelligence is.
과학자들은집단지능이얼마나효과적인지를깨닫고있다.
Some scientists are applying what they've learned to solve human problems.
일부과학자들은배운것을인간의문제를해결하기위해적용하고있다.
Thomas Seeley, a biologist at Cornell University, is impressed by how well bees make decisions.
코넬대학의생물학자인토마스시글리는벌들이얼마나잘결정을하는지를보고감명을받는다.
According to him, the bees' rules for decision making are: seek a diversity of options, encourage a free competition among ideas, and use an effective mechanism to narrow choices.