The ant...lead by example?

[Evariste]

I have meditated on human nature for several days and have come to this conclusion: Humans are inherently flawed. Their nature is weak and insipid. Their purpose is to carve out a pitiful existence only glorifying themselves.

Another conclusion: The ant is everything that human beings are not. They are considerate creatures that act in the best interest of their colony. Truly such brotherhood is to be admired in such small creatures. Imagine if their mantra could be applied to human beings? A truly grand society would emerge.

Put your moral and religious squabbles aside and learn from the ant. I have, and my life couldn't be better. Send me a pm for more info.

[Kscott]

Humans like ants....

We would have one queen who has EVERYTHING, and the rest of us have no individual spirit and do evertyhig for the queen. Im sorry, but thats not a world I would want to live in.

[Eric]

Perhaps read the book "The Once and Future King". As training for his kingship, Arthur is turned into the various animals to realize the different sides of the political spectrum, from Wild Geese(Absolute Freedom) to Ants(Absolute Law). Arthur realizes that if Absolute Law doesn't work because no one is happy and Absolute Freedom doesn't work because it is chaos, then the answer must lie in the Middle.

[Kino]

Deleted by user.

[Evariste]

I have read that book. It's very good and was actually the inspiration for this thread. I have discovered that carpenter ants are the middle, since they are industrious, but allow some freedom. It's a parallel to the perfect society.

[Kscott]

perfect if your willing to give up your individuality and work for the beneift of a select few.

[Final Frontier]

perfect if your willing to give up your individuality and work for the beneift of a select few.

And being the selfish humans we are, the chances of this happening are small. If we did live in a perfect society where there was no desire for anything personnal, there was no individuality, and everybody worked as one then this could work out. That's what seperates the ants and us. (And the extra two legs + antennae as well )

[Evariste]

And being the selfish humans we are, the chances of this happening are small. If we did live in a perfect society where there was no desire for anything personnal, there was no individuality, and everybody worked as one then this could work out. That's what seperates the ants and us. (And the extra two legs + antennae as well )

Exactly, that's why the evolution of two extra legs, antennae, and mandibles are the next logical steps in human evolution.

[Ummon]

Has it ever occurred to you, that an ant colony is like a human being? Selfish, aggressive and greedy. You have just replaced one form of selfishness with another. Now, probably the lack of consciousness reduces suffering, but it also reduces effectiveness. In truth, you should be worried by your own thoughts.

[Final Frontier]

All this talk about ants and humans has reminded me of old movies I used to watch with giant ants and other bugs devouring humans. The most recent movie with giant bugs eating people that I have seen happens to be King Kong.

Anyway, Ummon has mentioned worrying about self interests, and I think that this is the best thing because it is not always guarenteed that others will watch out for you.

[Kino]

Deleted by user.

[the_mango55]

I don't know if this is true or not...but I've heard that an ant colony combined has the intelligence of a 4 or 5 year old. I don't know how they would know that. I think it's an interesting thought though.

An ant colony has a combined intelligence of zero. There is no measure of intelligence that we have that could possibly find any intelligence in an ant. 5 year olds can figure things out, they can invent new(for them) ways to do things, they can reason. If you took every ant in the world and put them all in one colony they still wouldn't be able to comprehend the arts or do basic mathematics.

[Evariste]

That's not entirely correct. An ant colony, working together, can solve simple tasks. They can do things such as building bridges and storing food. In terms of intelligence, I would place them between a dolphin and chimpanzee. All the more evidence to follow their example!

[Final Frontier]

Yeah, ants act by instinct, not by reasoning or anything like that. They just do what they are supposed to, no more, no less. Though it would be cool if our government trained super ants to act as spies. :laughing:

[Evariste]

Yeah, ants act by instinct, not by reasoning or anything like that. They just do what they are supposed to, no more, no less. Though it would be cool if our government trained super ants to act as spies. :laughing:

Thank you SE, that is the exact point that I'm trying to make here! We start out with super ant spies, and then we apply these military conventions to civilians in useful ways. It's just common sense.

[Tostig]

Not to mention the sheer amount of other insects that survive by duping the ants to look after their young or feed them.

[Eric]

So, you want to cast off over 4,000 years of human development and turn us all into ants. True, they can solve simple tasts. But, an ant can solve an equastion, an art can't paint a great work of art or sculpt a beautiful sculpture. They aren't happy. The lack the emotion of happiness. All that they live for is told to them by the Queen. They can't figure out new things, or invent even simple machines like a pulley or a wedge, to make their work easier. They do everything by sheer strength with perhaps some very basic shows of extremely little intelligence. Making humans act like ants is basically evolution in reverse.

[sephodwyrm]

Ants and termites also bury members of the colony suspected of fungal disease, even when they'r'e alive.