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Always found colony based insects but especially ants fascinating. Its as if the ant is not the organism but rather the colony is.
by wonderwonder 2y ago
Always found colony based insects but especially ants fascinating.
Its as if the ant is not the organism but rather the colony is.
- senthil_rajasek 2y agoIf you find Ants interesting you would probably like E.O. Wilson's works. That's all he did his entire life, study ants. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_Ants https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_Ants
- SeanAnderson 2y agoE.O. Wilson's published work was read by Will Wright, creator of SimCity / The Sims / SimAnt, and the material is what inspired him to create SimAnt :) Will has also stated that the pheromone system designed for SimAnt was repurposed to be used in The Sims! Very interesting stuff if you ask me :)
- withants 2y agoThank you. What a life!
- jsenn 2y agoDeborah Gordon (ant biologist) makes this argument in her book Ant Encounters. Because the ants in a colony are all sisters, the unit of reproduction is actually the colony rather than the individual ant. Great book!
- kevinventullo 2y agoThe unit of reproduction, and thus the unit of Darwinian evolution!
- wonderwonder 2y agoThanks for the rec, just ordered it. Its part of a series on complex systems, pretty cool
- EdwardCoffin 2y ago"A colony of ants is more than just an aggregate of insects that are living together. One ant is no ant." - E. O. Wilson
- munificent 2y agoAn interesting follow-up thought is to what degree that is also true of humans and their tribes.
- thowawatp302 2y agoHave you extended that idea to the perspective of your cells and you, and thought up any major differences? (Genuine question, the biggest difference I can think of is most of our cells are in permanent physical contact.)
- wonderwonder 2y agoActually yes, its an interesting thought. Not only are we a cooperative group of independent cells but those cells are fully replaced as we age so not even the original cells we start with. We are essentially walking cities of cells and somehow we gain consciousness. Pretty wild.
- KineticLensman 2y ago> but those cells are fully replaced as we age Not nerve cells. Our post-childhood adult brains persist until we die, so the city of cells (nice image BTW) has a permanent and persistent ruling council, as it were, even if the citizens come and go.