Human governance is in crisis, with escalating political polarization, eroding trust in public institutions, and widespread disinformation. This is possible because people are susceptible to cognitive illusions, exploited by governments and politicians. To address the cognitive causes of some of the most catastrophically irrational decisions of today, including climate change denialism, we aim to answer the following question: How do nonhuman beings and collectives–whose perseverance on earth far surpasses that of humans–avoid crippling cognitive illusions in their decisions? We’ll use a theory-experiment interwoven approach, where physics-based mathematical models make testable predictions, and the results of experiments with bees and slime mold inform our models. We’ll communicate our results to the public, offering actionable policy guidance, to have maximum impact in the real world. Applying principles of biomimicry to the political realm, we seek to expand understanding of collective cognition and inspire new principles for human governance. By examining our biases, we aim to foster intellectual humility and sustainable prosperity for humans, utilizing the heretofore unrecognized wisdom of nonhuman beings and collectives to foster a more effective system of human governance.

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In order to generate hypotheses for our experiments, we have been conducting surveys with beekeepers. We believe that this will not only prove valuable in terms of honeybee research (and knowledge that will be beneficial to bees and beekeepers alike), but also will stimulate conversation within the beekeeping community: 

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https://forms.gle/RRUdHp6XsWNd3gDN8

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