An argument that individuals and collectives form memories by analogous processes and a case study of collective retrograde amnesia.We form individual memories by a process known as consolidation: the conversion of immediate and fleeting bits of information into a stable and accessible representation of facts and events. These memories provide a version of the past that helps us navigate the pr…
The biological and philosophical implications of the emergence of new collective individuals from associations of living beings.Our intuitive assumption that only organisms are the real individuals in the natural world is at odds with developments in cell biology, ecology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and other fields. Although organisms have served for centuries as nature's paradigmatic ind…