The "Mythical Man Month" was specifically about challenges in software development with humans, so comparisons to cities and ant colonies aren't all that helpful. It is not a general purpose rule to be applied to any task that can be performed by n+1 people or ants, purely an observation on the nature of software development. I think many of us can likely attest to its frequent validity in that domain, even if it doesn't ring true in others.

> sophisticated collaboration technologies instead of top down rigid hierarchies

Let me know when you find sophisticated collaboration technologies working beyond a team of say, 5-10.