Natures wonders: ants and other insects farm (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, May 06, 2020, 12:06 (1660 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: animals and plants have their own forms of cognition, memory, communication, information-processing, decision-making etc. – all elements of what we call intelligence.

Do you agree that these are attributes that denote intelligence?

dhw: [...] would you say that ants have a certain degree of autonomous intelligence?

DAVID: To the degree they make either/or choices, yes.

dhw: I’m amazed that you consider the invention of farming techniques, of rafting, of the many strategies used to combat enemies, and indeed of building whole cities to be either/or choices. But at least we’ve made a start. Ants apparently do have a degree of autonomous intelligence since they can choose between two options. Otherwise, though, all the above examples of intelligence are apparently the work of automatons to whom a hands-on God gives courses in or implants instructions for farming, rafting, soldiering and architecture. Have I got that right?

Please tell me if the above is an accurate description of your beliefs.

DAVID: See previous entry as each ant does his own thing:
Ant intelligence; colony traffic jam controls (Introduction)
by David Turell @, Tuesday, October 22, 2019, 20:51

I’m not very proficient with the technology of finding threads. There are 59 pages of them! I gave up after scrolling through the first 10. Sorry. The second one was easy, though:

DAVID:The same findings were found in bridge building:
Natures wonders: ants build bridges by individual action (Introduction)
by David Turell @, Friday, March 02, 2018, 18:44

QUOTE: "As individual ants run the “bridging” algorithm, they have a sensitivity to being stampeded. When traffic over their backs is above a certain level, they hold in place, but when it dips below some threshold — perhaps because too many other ants are now occupied in bridge-building themselves — the ant unfreezes and rejoins the march.”

The quote does not preclude intelligence, but the article does generally opt for some sort of blind automatism. However, it ends with a far more balanced view, even echoed by yourself:

QUOTE: “'We describe army ants as simple, but we don’t even understand what they’re doing. Yes, they’re simple, but maybe they’re not as simple as people think,” said Melvin Gauci, a researcher at Harvard University."

DAVID: Each ant follows a built-in algorithm, but there could be a degree of group think not yet uncovered.

Yes indeed. Now perhaps you’ll comment on my response to your previous post.