4 ms·

You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants, but is there a species of mammal that can work in as large as groups as we can? S

You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants, but is there a species of mammal that can work in as large as groups as we can? Some avian flocks and mammal herds get pretty big, but I'm only aware of them cooperating in transit, do they do collaborative child rearing and food sharing like we do?

nordsieck 3y ago
> You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants Depends on which you consider the fundamental organism: the ant or the colony.
snapplebobapple 3y ago
That's the exact issue.People that point at humans and say we are bad at cooperation are really saying they are uncomfortable with the level of violence we have/are exhibiting. As far as cooperation goes we are clearly the most cooperative species on the planet as we are cooperating across pretty much the entire surface of the planet across diverse kin groups. Most of the insect examples trotted out (i.e. ants) are colonies made up of one kin group. If you put another kin group in the same territory you won't have two kin groups for long because one will kill the other or push them out of the territory.
- 7952 3y ago
  Human culture is like nothing else on planet earth for cooperation. Although I think a lot of the cooperative behaviour is still based on kin groups, we just aren't particularly precise about who is kin and who isn't. And those instincts get applied more generally than just our family.
  - snapplebobapple 3y ago
    I suspect it's more that we can build institutions and those institutions can be imbued with rules we think are ideal and power to enforce said rules. That we can apply concepts like "what rules would I want to apply if I didn't know my starting position?" to decide on desirable rules helps a lot too.

4 ms·

You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants, but is there a species of mammal that can work in as large as groups as we can? S

by wolfram74 3y ago

nordsieck 3y ago
> You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants Depends on which you consider the fundamental organism: the ant or the colony.
snapplebobapple 3y ago
That's the exact issue.People that point at humans and say we are bad at cooperation are really saying they are uncomfortable with the level of violence we have/are exhibiting. As far as cooperation goes we are clearly the most cooperative species on the planet as we are cooperating across pretty much the entire surface of the planet across diverse kin groups. Most of the insect examples trotted out (i.e. ants) are colonies made up of one kin group. If you put another kin group in the same territory you won't have two kin groups for long because one will kill the other or push them out of the territory.
- 7952 3y ago
  Human culture is like nothing else on planet earth for cooperation. Although I think a lot of the cooperative behaviour is still based on kin groups, we just aren't particularly precise about who is kin and who isn't. And those instincts get applied more generally than just our family.
  - snapplebobapple 3y ago
    I suspect it's more that we can build institutions and those institutions can be imbued with rules we think are ideal and power to enforce said rules. That we can apply concepts like "what rules would I want to apply if I didn't know my starting position?" to decide on desirable rules helps a lot too.