Neighbor Colonies and Competition
Boundaries without borders
Boundaries Without Borders
Colony boundaries emerge from encounter rates, not territorial claims or violence. Colonies naturally space themselves about 20 meters apart.
This spacing rule is discovered through interaction, not enforced by any central authority.
Information Leakage
Stigmergic espionage allows information to leak across boundaries. By observing activity patterns, colonies can learn about neighbors without direct contact.
Trail patterns, foraging success rates, and activity levels are all observable.
Multi-Colony Federation
In our implementation, different missions operate like neighboring colonies. They share an environment (TypeDB) but maintain boundaries through namespacing.
Patterns that work in one mission can be observed and adopted by others.
Key Concepts
"Colonies don't fight over territory. They negotiate boundaries through the patterns of their activity."
Summary
Colony boundaries emerge from encounter rates, not territorial claims or violence. The 20-meter spacing rule is discovered through interaction, not enforced. Stigmergic espionage allows information to leak across boundaries through observable activity patterns.
Lessons from Ants at Work