The symbiont hypothesis presents a possible origin for eusociality. The idea is that living in close groups promotes the spread of symbionts between group members. In turn, the symbionts manipulate their hosts into close living arrangements in order to allow the symbionts to reproduce. These two effects create a synergetic spiral that leads towards ultrasociality and eusociality.
This has relevance to human culture, where Tim Tyler suggests that memes manipulate humans into coming into close contact, in order to facilitate their transmission between humans. In turn, humans living in close proximity to each other makes them more vulnerable to horizontal transmission of pathogens and symbionts - including more memes, which leads to a spiral of increased sociality - and to more and more memetic transmission.
Eusocial species are well known for their mutualisms. Termites have their cultivated fungi. Mole rats have their gut bacteria. Bees have their flowering plants while ants have their domatia. The idea of social groups being drawn together by a web of ecological interactions between multiple symbionts makes a lot of sense.
Trade, governance and state forms ecological webs with memes as symbionts
Humans are drawn together through trade, governance and state as an ecological web, and humans living in close proximity to each other makes them more vulnerable to horizontal transmission of memes, which leads to a spiral of increased sociality and to more and more memetic transmission.
Taxemes (distributed tax-rate governance) as a symbiont
Living in close groups promotes the spread of symbionts between group members. Humans are drawn together through genetic imperatives, memetic imperatives, economic imperatives and the technology imperative. These instincts could manipulate humans into coming into close contact to facilitate the transmission of Taxemes between humans.
Note
Memetic content on this page copied - and partially mutated - from http://on-memetics.blogspot.se/2014/07/tim-tyler-eusociality-symbiont.html