>Queen builds colony by digging a hole and starts birthing subjects
>Said subjects care for the colony and the queen in specific yet absurdly complex ways
>The queen dies, possibly usurped by one of her daughters
>All the ants carry in a functional manner
Yet apparently none of these are capable of even one coherent thought, and instead are all directed by instincts and pheromones.
I cannot for the life of me fathom how this works. It makes sense if the queen was controlling everyone, but in reality she's just an egg-laying machine and ultimately interchangeable. No, THE COLONY, a dirtpit in the sand is the real super-organism.
>>2129623
its not about control its about survival. they care for her because its a successful strategy to pass on their own genes through her. sounds like nonsense until you consider ants are haplodiploid which means workers are more genetically related to their sisters than their own parents and subsequently their children. you give 50% of your DNA to your child and your partner gives their 50%. well in ants the Dad who is haploid gives 100% and the mom gives 50% so if you are a worker ant the sister of such a union would have 75% commonality with you so it would be fortuitous to protect and serve her so she can make millions of babies some of which will be fertile queens some day.
Its a hell of a system but the success of ants and bees and wasps is a testament to the power of eusociality.
that being said to say they don't think is a bit of a stretch. they do think. they may even have feelings though much simpler than what we have. not pain or love or hate but contentment, pleasure, something similar to anger...all are possible. an injured ant even "screams" for help from its sisters even if the threat is distant from the colony which is disadvantageous to the group but advantageous to the individual.
also you are directed by instincts and chemicals. your happiness is serotonin, your fear adrenaline, your love oxytocin. being aware of it doesn't make you less of a biological machine. nothing personnel, kid.
>ants have been vastly more successful at colonizing earth than humans have
I don't like thinking about ants period, rule your stupid underground kingdom if you want just stay out of my house
Ants are so underappreciated.
>>2129623
You're beginning to understand.
It's like the cells in your body OP. Each cell is useless and mindless on it's own but put enough together and give them specific roles and you got a human.
Each ant is a cell basically. Each ant makes up a collective individual.
>>2129623
Ever read The Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber?
>>2129874
M y n i g g a
I've read his two books on the subject. While the shits he's talking about on the human aspect isn't remotely interesting, the ants part was very cool and instructive.
One specific line struck me. I couldn't recall the exact structure of it but it went like that :
>when one ant fuck up and put the colony in danger, rather than seeking who's done he wrong to blame him, all the ants start working on a solution to the problem, not on ways to punish the wrong-doer.
We've got much to learn from dem ants
>>2129687
But ants are a collection of cells, except every cell is controlled by an outside force and will gladly comply with suicidal tendencies.
>>2129623
How do I find a queen? I want my own colony
>>2131006
In look for days when theres lots of winged ants. Carefully watch for winged ants bigger than the others. Those are young Queens on a quest to get their cherries popped
>>2131007
So once I capture one it will start a colony?
>>2131010
Well you generally have to overwinter them. YouTube has instructions but basically put her in a test tube and provide a damp and sugared paper towel inside and keep it someplace dark. She should start laying near spring and then the colony will start and need to be transferred to a formicarium
>>2131021
Okay I'll look into it
>>2131006
I'm so used to browsing other boards, I just assumed you meant you wanted to a find a woman willing to give birth to quintuplets every nine months until I saw a response and regained reason from it.
>>2129958
There's plenty of body cells that have suicidal tendencies. Many of the cells in your immune system commit suicide after a certain amount of time because otherwise they would be dangerous to your body and/or be a waste of resources.
>>2129945
>tfw your species will always be capable of evil and therefore in need of punishment for intentional wrongdoing
