I see at the end you decided to write about it, thank you! :) In some points of your post you reminded me a bit about the concept of "emergence" which states that complex and sophisticated entitites can arise from the interaction of relatively simple and "apparently stupid" entities. Emergence is everywhere in nature, there are several examples like the cells in your body, like the ants, or your catalonian workers. I do think that concentrating all the decisional power in one entity could be problematic especially if an idiot happen to be running the country :)