On any day, almost anywhere in the world, we can witness one of the most remarkable demonstrations of corporate versus individual behavior.

All you need to do is look skyward and wait for a flock of birds to pass overhead. Sparrows, starlings, pigeons (aka rats with wings), some of the most ordinary, unappreciated avians are able to perform virtuoso performances that still defy complete comprehension. Without a real language, with brains so small and simple we jeer them ("bird-brained"), these speckled clouds, these crowds in the air, whirl and swirl, dip and dive, twist and turn in perfect synchronicity.

Never do you see some slow-poke sparrow forget to turn and cause a twelve bird smash-up in the sky. It's almost like an exquisitely choreographed ballet, with two hundred little wings sudd…