[lawpoop]

Well EO Wilson posited certain eusocial insect colonies, including bees, as a super-organism. I think the idea has some currency in biology. The idea is that Darwinian selection is acting upon the colony, so it is the unit of evolution. Remember that eukaryotic cells are a symbosis of two prokaryotic cells.

Not sure how often or even if countries self-reproduce.

[benlivengood]

> Not sure how often or even if countries self-reproduce.

Colonialism and independence.

[lawpoop]

I'm mulling this over... It's an interesting idea for sure. I'm not sure that it can't be reduced to human populations in general, which makes it more like the super-organism Wilson describes.

OTOH, not all human populations are states, as in countries, and arguable that is the "organism" said to be reproducing itself....