Il ragionamento come superorganismo

The discussion concerning the new trends in cognitive science seems very strictly tied to two fields of research: neu - roscience and biology. First of all, because cognitive phenomena are neuroscientific and biological phenomena as well. Secondly, because such disciplines are able to contribute to the understanding of mental events and cognitive capabili- ties. In this paper, I deal with a special class of biological entities, superorganisms, in order to show how biological inspired computation could benefit from the studies on such particular entities, that are intermediate between low organisms and higher level organisms made by low organisms. Latest scientific outcomes about superorganisms are interesting from the point of view of the notion of emergence, that is crucial in biological and cognitive science, for it explains phenomena by means of two connected features: autonomy and dependence on lower levels of a certain phenomenon. In superorgani- sms we could see some ways in which high levels depends on low levels, and such a dependence arises from a connection of cooperative and competitive actions of lower entities. I argue that biological inspired models of cognition could benefit from some traits of superorganisms, in order to simulate cognitive capabilities as representation and perception.