Dictionary

superorganism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super-lbor. English super- Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-der. Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon)bor. Latin organumder. Old French organebor. Middle English organe English organ Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English organism English superorganism From super- + organism.

Meanings

1. A social colony of individuals who, through division of labour, effective communication and self-organization, form a highly connected community that functions as if it were a single organism.
   • To grasp why Metaman—our strange amalgam of concrete, humans, computer chips, and various plants and animals—is a superorganism rather than merely an elaborate “social grouping” of humans, look at another, far simpler grouping of organisms—a termite colony. 1993, Gregory Stock, Metaman: the Merging of Humans and Machines Into a Global Superorganism, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 43:
   • A superorganism is an ensemble of living and non-living matter, which acts as a single self-regulating system. […] Gaia is the largest and most complex superorganism we know. 1991, James Lovelock, Healing Gaia, New York: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 64:

Forms

Translations (8)

fr superorganisme (social colony) · ca superorganisme (social colony) · pl nadorganizm (social colony) · es superorganismo (social colony) · de Superorganismus (social colony) · sv superorganism (social colony) · pl superorganizm (social colony) · da superorganisme (social colony)