The bees in Honeybee Democracy are interesting because they actually represent in some way how democracy works in real politics. This weekend, I noticed that the bees' behavior is also representative of democracy within my group of friends. When making decisions, we have very similar behaviors to the bees.
Since everyone was home for Easter weekend, my friends and I decided to meet up and all have dinner together. The only problem, with everyone being so picky, was deciding where to go to eat. Everybody has their one place that they want to go to and want to convince everybody that it is the right place to go.
This is where some of my friends become "scout bees" and lead the decision making process. A couple people, who have been to many restaurants and typically have a good idea of what is good food in the area, have "scouted" out theses places in the past. Based on what they think of these places will determine how strongly they influence the group to go to this location. Some of my friends don't have much of a preference, so they don't take part in the scouting and just listen to what the scouts have to say.
Eventually, the friends who are considered scout bees will limit it down to a couple of restaurants. Someone who thinks that the restaurant they picked is the best will try really hard to get everyone to pick that restaurant. If someone has a restaurant in mind but it is not their favorite, they will not signal the others as strongly, just like the bees. Once someone can convince everyone that the restaurant they picked is the best, everyone in the group will catch on and agree on one place and that is where we will go.
Something as simple as picking a restaurant to eat at shouldn't be such a tough decision, but since it is my friends do a selection process similar to that of what bees to when choosing a nest. In our situation finding a restaurant isn't a matter of life or death, even though some of my friends seem to think that.
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