In small insect societies, the complexity is localized at the individual. In large ant societies, complexity is more on the level of the interactions between the individuals. The evolution from the small ant society to large ant society was the result of qualitative changes involving discontinuities. Such type of discontinuities appear in many fields of physics, chemistry and biology. They are associated to bifurcations.
Bifurcations play an important role in our present view of nature.
They lead to multiple possibilities which are associated to probabilities. They destroy the classical deterministic view of nature. We are in a world in construction, and the initiative taken by the Club of Rome is a non - negligible factor in this construction. The present bifurcation towards a networked society is part of the technological bifurcations which started at the end of the 19th century and went through the whole 20th century. We have therefore already a period of about one century behind us.