Ever wondered why the Web works? Not from a technical, but from a sociologic viewpoint: Why do human beings still invent and use the Web?

Stigmergy is the answer, says Joe Gregorio:

The World-Wide Web is human stigmergy. The web and it’s ability to let anyone read anything and also to write back to that environment allows stigmeric communication between humans. Some of the most powerful forces on the web today, Google and weblogs are fundamentally driven by stigmeric communication and their behaviour follows similar natural systems like Ant Trails and Nest Building that are accomplished using stigmergy. The web is new. In the context of written human history is barely a blink of an eye. Yet as new as the web is, it is already showing it’s ability to support complex human interactions that mimic natural systems use of stigmergy. And were just getting started…

Now you wonder what Stigmergy is? It’s all explained in Joe Gregorios blog entry on Stigmergy.