Terry Blanton <hohlr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > There are many who believe the hive mind is more of the rule than the > exception. It certainly appears to be the case in nature. The flight > of birds such as in the beginning of Take Shelter or this vid: >
My guess is that there is some prosaic method of communication between the birds, if anything in biology can be described as "prosaic." I say that because there have been countless other astounding abilities discovered in biology yet in every case I know of so far, when they were explained, the explanation did not involve anything beyond the known set of senses such as vision, hearing, sense of touch or magnetism (used by migrating birds). The classic example is a bat's ability to navigate in semi-darkness from hearing (echolocation). It is astounding, but it ain't ESP. Before they discovered bat echolocation in 1938 it seemed like ESP. Even if the means of communication are prosaic and similar to our own senses, I think it is perfectly reasonable to say that a flock of birds does have a "hive mind." A hive of bees definitely does. A hive of bees is capable of advanced, organized behavior such as scouting and bringing back food, and building complex wax honeycomb shapes. A single bee could never do this. I doubt it would even have enough brain cells to store the information. Insects communicate by ordinary means such as movement and pheromones that have been partially decoded by people. - Jed
