Natures wonders: ants and other insects farm (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, May 11, 2020, 16:14 (1655 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: it seems to me that any organism which avoids problems by continuously changing its behaviour according to local conditions is showing signs of autonomous intelligence.

DAVID: I've marched in high school and Army. It is still either or for marching ants.

I really don’t know how a human being marching in high school and the Army proves that organisms which constantly change their behaviour according to local conditions are either automatons or confined to a single choice. In traffic, they could stop, go, slow down, change direction…but in any case, avoiding traffic jams is just one of their astonishing talents. In addition to farming, we have mentioned architecture, different strategies to combat different enemies, and a social system of amazing flexibility.

DAVID: The Neanderthals may have used trial and error to find the right bones. That takes analysis. As for ants, isn't it possible God helped?

dhw: Anything is possible, but I find it far more likely that ants worked out their own traffic and farming strategies (using their perhaps God-given intelligence) than that your God preprogrammed their behaviour 3.8 billion years ago, or gave them courses in traffic control and farming techniques.

DAVID: Traffic is still either/or without God's help. Farming probably required God.

dhw: Do you think the origin of farming or of architecture could have been either/or? Once again: “required God” means either a 3.8-billion-year-old programme for ant farming (along with every other undabbled life form, lifestyle, strategy, natural wonder in life’s history...), or God giving farming courses to ants. I’m sorry, but I find both options just a little hard to swallow.

I said farming probably required God's help.