"yet the idea that the colony has a mind is really not supported by our understanding of what a mind is." so perhaps the problem is the current/popular underst

"yet the idea that the colony has a mind is really not supported by our understanding of what a mind is." so perhaps the problem is the current/popular understanding of what a mind is? which tends to be linked to a central nervous system, which rules out octopuses (a class of animals which display clear and compelling examples of intelligent behavior) or to be more general, which we tend to link to a nervous system, which rules out both eusocial colonies (as you point out) and plants (which show clear and compelling examples of changing responses to certain stimuli which if displayed by dogs would be called learning/intelligent behavior). Indeed interesting things to ponder