The following issue seems fundamental and related (though i am not sure how exactly :-) ):
There is a difference between things ants could physically do and what they are smart enough to do / what we can cheaply enough explain to them.
Similarly for humans: delegating takes work. For example, hiring an IQ 80 cleaner might only be worth it for routine tasks, not for “clean up after this large event and just tell me when it’s done, bye”. Similarly, for some reason I am not supervising 10 master students, even if they were all smarter than me.
The following issue seems fundamental and related (though i am not sure how exactly :-) ): There is a difference between things ants could physically do and what they are smart enough to do / what we can cheaply enough explain to them. Similarly for humans: delegating takes work. For example, hiring an IQ 80 cleaner might only be worth it for routine tasks, not for “clean up after this large event and just tell me when it’s done, bye”. Similarly, for some reason I am not supervising 10 master students, even if they were all smarter than me.