Posthuman Blues

Ant logic makes sense in space

A spacecraft skin is being developed that assesses the severity of any damage it suffers from space debris and other impacts. The project, which is inspired by the behaviour of ants, is seen as the first step towards a self-repairing craft.

Shades of the organic "bitek" spacecraft in Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. I suspect spacecraft two-hundred years from now will more closely resemble hives than machines as we're used to them.