Ant species consciousness (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 09, 2013, 00:51 (4033 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: I have frequently used ants as an analogy to cellular cooperation. Our ant researchers use a similar analogy in the last of these three enlightening quotes: 
> 
> "This means that, like people, ants take the past into account when weighing options while making a choice. The difference is that ants somehow manage to do this as a colony without any dissent." 
> 
> "You have hundreds of these ants, and somehow they have to reach a consensus," Pratt said. "How do they do it without anyone in charge to tell them what to do?"[/b]> [/color]
> Pratt likened individual ants to individual neurons in the human brain. Both play a key role in the decision-making process, but no one understands how every neuron influences a decision."
> 
> Hm...cooperation, using information from the past, weighing options, making a choice, consensus, no-one in charge, like neurons...Hardly a description of automatons, is it?-They are following plans and responses they have been give. But they also develop instincts, a process we do not understand. Note the bolded colored sentence. They have to be in comunication with each other somehow, and just as your mind weighs choices and reaches a conclusion, so do they. Since they don't have language or speech, it has to be at a consciousness level.