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By Kate on October 25, 2013 10:24 PM | 11 Comments

Giant ant colony, excavated.

11 Comments

andycanuck | October 25, 2013 10:38 PM | Reply

A few real sh1t-for-brains in the comments.

Ken (Kulak) replied to comment from andycanuck | October 25, 2013 11:32 PM | Reply

Exactly. The really sad part is they are allowed to vote.

Paul Thiessen | October 26, 2013 1:32 AM | Reply

No welfare in ant colonies, no wonder they get something done.

Loki | October 26, 2013 1:33 AM | Reply

That was really neat. Nothing amazing about it though as one can create quite complex structures using simple interaction rules between organisms whether they're meatware or hardware. Only very few rules are involved in the flocking behavior or birds. Ants are neat insects and can watch them for hours but they're nowhere as intelligent as bees and wasps. What is even more amazing than this ant colony (which as I've noted is isomorphic to a cellular automaton structure) are wasps which are able to forage freely and come back to exactly the same physical point where they continue building their nests. Have a love/hate relationship with wasps as they seem to like my greenhouse and every year I watch them for a while before blasting them with Raid. Wasps and bees have much more complex brains than ants and are capable of quite a bit of learning.

Maybe we'll start creating insect computers as Greg Bear has discussed in some of his books.

ldd | October 26, 2013 3:26 AM | Reply

Now that was impressive.

My daughter wanted an ant farm when she was young, so she got one and really enjoyed watching them.
But it was a sad day when I had to vacuum them up as she had decided let them all out for 'exploring'.
However she was very happy with her new hamster and it's exercise ball.

old white guy | October 26, 2013 8:22 AM | Reply

interesting stuff.

DrD replied to comment from Loki | October 26, 2013 8:26 AM | Reply

Agree with you Loki. The first thing I wondered about was the algorithms the colony must use in order to construct their city. What triggers what type of building behavior in the ants? Is it CO2 or methane concentration, temperature, chemicals in the soil composition? Fascinating stuff. But no doubt a few simple rules produce this complex, well coordinated and highly adaptive behavior.
Now if politicians could cotton on to the same principle . . .

MikeSr | October 26, 2013 8:31 AM | Reply

sasquatch | October 26, 2013 9:00 AM | Reply

Actually, I noticed not so much building as digging in, infiltrating with little sign on the surface....

Sorta like "progressives" in civil service.....it's there ya just don't see it a lot.

Revnant Dream replied to comment from sasquatch | October 26, 2013 1:15 PM | Reply

The hive mind of socialism at work.
Unfortunately for the collectivists people are not ants.

cal2 | October 26, 2013 5:59 PM | Reply

so anyone think a 10 tonne frac or a 100 tonne frac at 2ooo meters any bigger ?

really 10 tonnes is only twice the size of a burned out police car in NB

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cal2: so anyone think a 10 tonne frac or a 100 read more
Revnant Dream: The hive mind of socialism at work. Unfortunately for the read more
sasquatch: Actually, I noticed not so much building as digging in, read more
MikeSr: Like read more
DrD: Agree with you Loki. The first thing I wondered about read more
old white guy: interesting stuff. read more
ldd: Now that was impressive. My daughter wanted an ant farm read more
Loki: That was really neat. Nothing amazing about it though as read more
Paul Thiessen: No welfare in ant colonies, no wonder they get something read more
Ken (Kulak): Exactly. The really sad part is they are allowed to read more

Honey, I Finished The Internet

11 Comments