Organized Black Fly Maggots

The black soldier fly maggot is voracious and really active. The issue at hand is how thousands of them eat, say a piece of fruit. An important fact about our friends is they only eat for about five minutes and then “relax.” But if they are still near the food, they will block other maggots from eating.

So for all to feed, they (self) organize. This is not to say they are intelligent, no more so than the average undergrad. They organize into a vortex of flow where the hungrier maggots come from below toward the food supply pushing the relaxed maggots up (and over the top). The result is a vortex-like flow, sort of like a fountain or volcano.

View from Below

This is an example of dynamics, created by self-organized behavior, that feeds all. The maggots do this (a) without a plan, and (b) without a leader. One of the problems in understanding self-organization is to find the driver. In this case, it is hunger. But predicting the dynamics is extremely difficult. What many do is note the dynamics and then explain it from the observations.

You can watch these critters in their gross action at https://www.livescience.com/64691-maggot-fountains.html?utm_source=notification

In human systems, the drivers may be hunger, fear, reproduction, security, and many others. Now predict the dynamics.

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