Ant intelligence (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, September 09, 2013, 17:43 (3883 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: I have described the mechanism in my previus entry. it applies to ants as well as to cells. The ants are programmed to do their jobs and their societal roles. The intelligent thought is in planning DNA to create the instinctual behavior which then is almost completely automatic.-dhw: I like the word "almost". Please tell us which part of the behaviour of ants and cells is NOT automatic, and why you think that part of their behaviour still does not constitute intelligent thought.-DAVID: It is my assumption that 99.9% of thier activity is controlled by instinct. There is an article I read recently about ants finding their way home by spotting a landmark and then making the decision to change direction. if you call that intelligence, OK, I'll buy it. It is memory and response.-Assumptions are the bedrock of prejudice, and 99.9% is a figure plucked out of the air. As a scientist, you should know better! In my post of Saturday 07 Sept. at 12.14, I repeated the account of ants defending themselves against a mantis. I asked why one of several large ants decided to sacrifice itself by blocking the jaws of the mantis, how other ants devised and implemented the strategy of decapitating it, how individuals knew what to do, and what it was they communicated to one another, if there was no intelligent thought behind all of these actions. Your reply, as above, was to state your assumptions which you have now restated. I would regard your response as almost completely automatic, but am 99.99% convinced that you can come up with something a little more intelligently thoughtful!-******-Thank you for the guppy article. I shall have to leave it till tomorrow. I have a cricket (not an ant) meeting tonight!