Bee Logic?

The BBC interviewed Sussex University's new Professor of Apiculture, Francis Ratnieks, (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/media/media687.shtml). He pointed out some interesting parallels between a bee hive and the internet (both have many components but no one individual is 'in charge') and claimed that equivalents of the odour guides used by ants seeking food could be used in computing applications. I was less convinced about his argument that social insects (like ants and bees who have been living in very large groups for 'millions of years') can teach humans (who have operated in this fashion for 'only a few thousand years') much about 'public health'. I agree that the control of disease is a problem in both 'societies' but the general response of social insects is to eliminate any infected individuals (I would not favour this approach in the NHS). I think we can still claim that social insects operate like super-organisms (because the 'components' are highly genetically related) whereas the reasons that human societies stay together are more complex. Professor Ratnieks thought that, of the two, humans were more likely to face extinction.