Yes, it's the idea that the colony exhibits behaviour with a level of intelligence impossible for any of the single bees. Things like choosing the location of the nest or managing the temperature of the nest, there's various decisions "made" by the colony as a kind of emergent property of the behaviour of the individual bees who themselves don't have the capacity to think at that level. The various aspects of colony behaviour have all been individually studied by quite a few people and groups, yes.

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s1artibartfast 2 days ago | parent [-]

I think you are missing the point of the question, and it revolves around calling it a mind capable of decisions.

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AlecSchueler 2 days ago | parent [-]

Am I? I just mentioned there's research that shows a colony of bees can make decisions that individual bees are incapable of. What am I misunderstanding?

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glenstein 2 days ago | parent [-]

Crowds of people, as an average, are more accurate at guessing the number of beans in a jar at a county fair than individual people, but not because there's such a thing as cognition manifesting at the group level in any literal sense.

I think you're making an interesting point, but I think you're attempting to point to a hive mind like it's the only pertinent topic when it comes to cognition of bees, as if testing for cognitive capabilities of individuals was a misunderstanding. But it's not a misunderstanding, it's part of what I think is some pretty explosively important research testifying to insect, cognition and even consciousness. At least speaking for myself, if the research holds, for me it necessitates a mind-blowing reevaluation of the internal lives of at least some insects.

	▲	AlecSchueler 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		> you're attempting to point to a hive mind like it's the only pertinent topic when it comes to cognition of bees, as if testing for cognitive capabilities of individuals was a misunderstanding I'm not at all. I only responded to the questions "is a hive mind a thing, had anyone even studied that?" which is a Yes, and "why would they study the hive mind, isn't studying the individual enough?" for which I gave one potential reason to do so. I never suggested that studying the individuals was insufficient or that I took any issue with the study as it was conducted, I only answered these questions. > Crowds of people, as an average, are more accurate at guessing the number of beans in a jar at a county fair than individual people, but not because there's such a thing as cognition manifesting at the group level in any literal sense. Sure but if someone asked you "is there any point in studying group dynamics when you could just study individuals" you could still give a good argument for it right?