Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#41

Post by ahahs » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

altmanaltman wrote: post #26

wjholden wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to hazard a speculative answer with poor evidence: love. The ants love one another, as shown by their child-rearing, grooming, playing, the "antennating" mentioned in the article, collective defense, and deliberate handling of their dead. We don't understand their language, but I have a certain faith that ants experience a very similar kinship for their sisters as we. If they were strictly-rational robots t…

I mean that is an untestable claim right? Like we can only infer from their behavior and there is no absolute way to really understand what consiousness is and how other species experience it. So while yes they may love each other but love is a very complex emotion with specific meaning while what they do is more reactive actions that keep the herd safe instead of subjective affection. It is highly unlikely ants are…

You said its an "Untestable claim" yet you are sure its "highly unlikely" ants are capable of emotion. Which is it?

I think you're wrong, and its painfully obvious that ants do indeed form a bond with their community. The proof is in the system.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#42

Post by ahahs » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #33

benjaminard wrote: post #17

And the injured ant just sits there and takes it, probably in pain, because I'm guessing it also knows that it's best for the colony. Fascinating.

I am doubtful that ants feel conscious pain.

What proof do you have? I think you're wrong. They do feel pain but know what they are doing is a net positive. Sort of how civil war injuries resulted in amputations. A lot of amputees back then definitely felt pain.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#43

Post by nchmy » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

mftb wrote: post #31

Frieren wrote: post #4

> The ants carry out prophylactic amputations. This not only protects the colony from infection but also doubles the survival rate of the injured workers. To keep everybody around you healthy makes the probability of caching a disease lower for yourself, too. Grooming behaviour in primates helps in the same way. And it is so important that it is linked to all kinds of mental rewards. To let disease run amok in your o…

Thank you for saying this. I've been saying this for years. No one listens.

may i ask in what context youve been saying this? I suspect it aint ant colonies...

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#44

Post by toss1 » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #32

toss1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Lots of people do lots of things that increase the downstream burden on the healthcare system, including being obese, sedentary, driving cars, having a poor diet, engaging in substance abuse, contact sports, skydiving, rock climbing, etc.

No, those three things are NOT the same.

Exactly zero of those things you list also spread disease throughout the population, and are aggressively anti-science. They only arguably affect the person themselves and the overall HC costs.

Moreover, for the active items you listed: driving, contact sports, skydiving, rock climbing, etc., nearly everyone doing them takes real precautions to minimize the health risks — their motivation is to continue doing the event, not to get injuries which would prevent them enjoying their activity.

In the passive harms you mentioned, the people are passive, not active. No one intentionally becomes obese or sedentary or ruins their diet; they simply fail to have the motivation or to learn the knowledge required to do better (or they have actual conditions that prevent them from doing so). There is nothing intentional about it.

In contrast, the anti-science anti-vaxxers willfully maintain and aggressively spread their ignorance and impose their ignorant bad decisions as costs on society and increased health risks for everyone.

The anti-vaxxers are doing the opposite of taking safety-measures to improve health and safety of their activities — instead, they actively evade free, safe, and effective health and public health measures.

The anti-vaxxers are doing the opposite of passively failing to maintain their health — instead they actively deny science, medicine, and public health issues, and actively evade recommendations or mandates.

As the study illustrated, they are literally more stupid and anti-society than ants. They freeload off the health care system and herd immunity built and maintained by their smarter peers.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#45

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

ahahs wrote: post #40

wjholden wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to hazard a speculative answer with poor evidence: love. The ants love one another, as shown by their child-rearing, grooming, playing, the "antennating" mentioned in the article, collective defense, and deliberate handling of their dead. We don't understand their language, but I have a certain faith that ants experience a very similar kinship for their sisters as we. If they were strictly-rational robots t…

All beings have emotions and feel things. Especially love. It is not a specifically human thing to form attachments, have bonds, and share community.

[deleted]

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#46

Post by jayGlow » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

makeitdouble wrote: post #38

K0balt wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ants are also a special case because the vast majority of ants cannot reproduce. Only the queen and drones are reproductive agents, 99.9 percent of the colony are non reproductive, so their investment in the survival of the colony is total, they have no individual agenda.

As I understand it, the individual vs the group situation is complicated by their shared genetic pool. I'd imagine it as having dozens of clones of myself, and one of them is tasked with reproducing for the rest of us. It sounds like a total lack of individualism, but if the offspring has my genes and is raised like me (potentially by me), how far is it from being my own ?

eusocial animals are really cool you can kinda treat the entire colony as a single organism. weirdly enough this isn't restricted to insects there are actually some eusocial mammals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality

the book coalescent by Stephen Baxter is an interesting take on what that might look like in humans as well if you're interested in the topic.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#47

Post by pfannkuchen » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

Ouman wrote: post #6

Frieren wrote: post #4

> The ants carry out prophylactic amputations. This not only protects the colony from infection but also doubles the survival rate of the injured workers. To keep everybody around you healthy makes the probability of caching a disease lower for yourself, too. Grooming behaviour in primates helps in the same way. And it is so important that it is linked to all kinds of mental rewards. To let disease run amok in your o…

They can look altruistic at the individual level while still being completely aligned with self-preservation at the group level

*gene level

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#48

Post by afavour » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

ahahs wrote: post #40

wjholden wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to hazard a speculative answer with poor evidence: love. The ants love one another, as shown by their child-rearing, grooming, playing, the "antennating" mentioned in the article, collective defense, and deliberate handling of their dead. We don't understand their language, but I have a certain faith that ants experience a very similar kinship for their sisters as we. If they were strictly-rational robots t…

All beings have emotions and feel things. Especially love. It is not a specifically human thing to form attachments, have bonds, and share community.

I’d be careful labelling any of that “love” though. There’s certainly not any proof of ants “loving” each other, they have a community, sure, but that’s just doing what best serves their colony. I’d need more evidence to consider that “love”.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#49

Post by KetoManx64 » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

nchmy wrote: post #43

mftb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for saying this. I've been saying this for years. No one listens.

may i ask in what context youve been saying this? I suspect it aint ant colonies...

When an ant colony has damaged ants or isn't making enough ants it's just better to mass import ants from another colony.

Re: Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?

#50

Post by SoftTalker » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

toss1 wrote: post #44

SoftTalker wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people do lots of things that increase the downstream burden on the healthcare system, including being obese, sedentary, driving cars, having a poor diet, engaging in substance abuse, contact sports, skydiving, rock climbing, etc.

No, those three things are NOT the same. Exactly zero of those things you list also spread disease throughout the population, and are aggressively anti-science. They only arguably affect the person themselves and the overall HC costs. Moreover, for the active items you listed: driving, contact sports, skydiving, rock climbing, etc., nearly everyone doing them takes real precautions to minimize the health risks — thei…

Driving alone kills far more people every year than disease spread by anti-vaxxers. And injuries from driving are seen in emergency rooms every day.

I'm not defending anti-vaxxers. But they are not a big problem. And you can get vaccinated yourself and worry even less.