Comparing The Myth Of The Ant Queen And Project Classroom Makeover

After reading the chapters “The Myth of the Ant Queen” and “Project Classroom Makeover” by Steven Johnson and Cathy Davidson, respectively, readers may have spotted that collective knowledge, as well as different systems of organization, also respectively, were mentioned in the story. Interestingly enough, these two completely different stories still had ideas that can work together to address a point: Although these are two completely different stories made by different authors, one can still see how knowledge, more specifically collective knowledge, can greatly affect how effective multiple systems of organization can be. After all, collaboration with different people and/or other living things as is the case with Johnson’s story generally
A simple system would be something one can predict since it only contains about two or three variables. On the other hand, disorganized complexity would be something that you could not predict whatsoever, such as how Manchester is organized. Nobody would have guessed that there would be an area where all the wealthy people would be living and commuting in and out during their day to day lives. Nobody could have guessed a lot of things, such as where the gay communities would have started up, or where would all the illegal activities generally occur, which in this case was the docks. However, this is not to say that collective knowledge had no say in Johnson’s story, for it has made a greater impact on multiple systems mentioned than some readers may have originally thought. Take the ants for example, and how their queen ant is more of an equal to the rest of the ant colony then what was more populary thought before. The worker ants are special in the sense that “their genes instruct them to protect their mother the same way their genes instruct them to forage for food. In other words, the matriarch doesn’t train her servants to protect her, evolution does” (Johnson 194). Basically, collective knowledge is at work here, for the ants may have evolved to protect their
Through these two stories, it became clear how knowledge such as collective knowledge can heavily impact the way a system of organization is meant to be. Whether it be in Cathy Davidson’s small classroom example containing a teacher and student desperately in need of a new solution to guarantee passing the eigth grade, or in Steven Johnson’s ant example where evolution assisted the collective thinking of all the ants, collective knowledge is a great thing to utilize. As hinted by Cathy Davidson before, being an expert at something means one would have had to put in a humongous amount of time to work in their area of expertise. It just wouldn’t be feasible for Miss Schmidt to have assumed position of maximum authority 100% of the time since it would have meant failing one of her students, which implies that she was not able to get her entire class to pass and can harm her reputation as a good teacher that meets everyone’s needs. Also, it definitely would not have worked out in the ant colony for ants work to feed the colony and such like a working husband/wife would for their family. With all those ants going in and out of small tight spaces and managing the flow of resources as well as keeping the queen ant out of harm’s way, it would only be ideal for every single ant to communicate