Difference between revisions of "Bee Dance"
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A Bee Dance is a form of insect behavior defined by bees locating pollen in distant fields and returning to the hive with a dance pattern that teaches other bees how to access the pollen location. In the digital realm, the bee dance takes the form of a hyperlink shared between one person to many others. Examples of bee dance behavior in humans can be seen on Twitter or Facebook in the form of posted URLs in status updates. Short URLs are a more efficient form of bee dance. | A Bee Dance is a form of insect behavior defined by bees locating pollen in distant fields and returning to the hive with a dance pattern that teaches other bees how to access the pollen location. In the digital realm, the bee dance takes the form of a hyperlink shared between one person to many others. Examples of bee dance behavior in humans can be seen on Twitter or Facebook in the form of posted URLs in status updates. Short URLs are a more efficient form of bee dance. | ||
| − | The bee dance is an appropriate metaphor for other reasons as well. Many linguists understand the defining feature of human language to be syntax (rules for the combination of individual signs to create novel meanings). While dogs have basic signals (wag tail, whine, bark, etc.), they do not have rules for stringing these elements together to form novel semantic meaning. We have some evidence that monkeys have simple syntax, but few other animals exhibit syntactic structure. The one major exception is the bee dance. Each component of the dance acts as a specifically placed unit in the whole so bees can communicate complicated directions to the rest of the hive. Thought about this way, the bee dance references the ability of individual nodes in a hive mind to send directions to other nodes using highly structured form of language. Sound familiar? | + | The bee dance is an appropriate metaphor for other reasons as well. Many linguists understand the defining feature of human language to be syntax (rules for the combination of individual signs to create novel meanings). |
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| + | While dogs have basic signals (wag tail, whine, bark, etc.), they do not have rules for stringing these elements together to form novel semantic meaning. We have some evidence that monkeys have simple syntax, but few other animals exhibit syntactic structure. The one major exception is the bee dance. Each component of the dance acts as a specifically placed unit in the whole so bees can communicate complicated directions to the rest of the hive. Thought about this way, the bee dance references the ability of individual nodes in a hive mind to send directions to other nodes using highly structured form of language. Sound familiar? | ||
[[Category:Book Pages]] | [[Category:Book Pages]] | ||
[[Category:Finished]] | [[Category:Finished]] | ||
Revision as of 04:27, 1 July 2011
Definition
A Bee Dance is a form of insect behavior defined by bees locating pollen in distant fields and returning to the hive with a dance pattern that teaches other bees how to access the pollen location. In the digital realm, the bee dance takes the form of a hyperlink shared between one person to many others. Examples of bee dance behavior in humans can be seen on Twitter or Facebook in the form of posted URLs in status updates. Short URLs are a more efficient form of bee dance.
The bee dance is an appropriate metaphor for other reasons as well. Many linguists understand the defining feature of human language to be syntax (rules for the combination of individual signs to create novel meanings).
While dogs have basic signals (wag tail, whine, bark, etc.), they do not have rules for stringing these elements together to form novel semantic meaning. We have some evidence that monkeys have simple syntax, but few other animals exhibit syntactic structure. The one major exception is the bee dance. Each component of the dance acts as a specifically placed unit in the whole so bees can communicate complicated directions to the rest of the hive. Thought about this way, the bee dance references the ability of individual nodes in a hive mind to send directions to other nodes using highly structured form of language. Sound familiar?
