pheromone

When a scout ant finds food, it returns back to the nest leaving a strong trail of pheromone.

Do you think it is pheromone based, aesthetics, other root causes?

An AI can't ever really replace the pheromone response at those I think.

Since ants leave pheromone markers, this path is now stronger, so other ants know and will in turn follow.

Ah, but remember he's making hiring decisions based on "pheromone[s] and body language", which don't come through on phone lines.

In the ants example, I would expect a certain amount of pheromone to be the trigger, not an actual number of ants.

You are right, now that I read the original article, it appears the particular ant genus they were studying does not use pheromone trails.

It's like being loyal to a fictional character, being sad because a couple break up in a soap opera, or getting a mouse all excited with a pheromone soaked cue tip.

Current efforts are like a colony of ants all by themselves on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific building a giant super-pheromone nose on top of a 3-inch anthill.

> Planakis said that inside their venom “is a pheromone, which is like a magnet to other hornets.” > “So you can get swarmed just from getting stung by one.” > “The worst thing anyone can do with these things is kill them,” he said.

In fact, for most of these, the SF element is something that will be quickly introduced and got over with to come to meat of the story, similar to how better folk tales and fables work: "Let's just assume that animals can talk, now one day ...", or "Aliens have invented a pheromone/toxin that turns sexual urges in males into uncontrollable physical aggression, this is what happens to humanity".