From Swarms to Societies: Origins of Social Organization

What are the distinguishing features of socially organized systems, as contrasted to the other known forms of self-organization? Can one define a society in abstract terms, without referring to the specific nature of its elements and thus making the definition applicable to a broad class of systems of various origins? Is social evolution different from biological evolution? This chapter attempts to approach such questions in a general perspective, without technical details and mathematical equations.

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