"Emergence" Reading

Steven Johnson spends quite a lot of time differentiating the social habits of colonizing insects and humans (e.g. humans having very complex brains relative to ants). He covers the similarities too: the idea of creating an emergent (bottom-up and evolutionary) society that responds on local levels. I think the most interesting concept he mentions is the idea of humans not being able to comprehend the changes and patterns that coalesce over long periods of human years. It's the old adage that a part cannot fully comprehend the whole it is part of. Ants can't grasp the way the colony works, human beings can't understand how the human brain works, and humans as citizens can't conceptualize fully the growth and evolution of the city they are a part of. But perhaps we can use the patterns of ants as a microcosm for our lives. After all, humans are all just social beings but with generally more cultural, creative, and individual identities. Why not learn to work together instead of going to war?