Stigmergy

The idea that clients, acting independently, could work together to create anything so complex and highly organised as the giant databases created by the geodemographic and lifestyles industries might seem highly fanciful. Yet, similarly complex structures are a feature of many insect colonies. Ants, termites, bees are examples of insects that create elaborate nests with intricate architecture, create bridges, use complex food gathering strategies, coordinate their activities to find new nest sites and defend them against intruders or invaders.

There are no central databases in these systems of complex insect organisation; there is no central control, no leaders, no algorithms. Quite independently of each other, every insect plays some small part in a system of organisation without any training, learning or instructions.

It is only in recent times that scientists have understood how this seemingly mysterious process of unorganised organisation comes about. The trick, it seems, is to see the environment as part of the system. Individuals make changes to the environment and these changes affect the behaviour of the individuals. It is a feedback loop between the insects and their environment, not as previously thought, a process of communication between the insects themselves.