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Ant Geopolitics

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Re: Ant Geopolitics

#61

Post by bebopfunk »

ryanblakeley wrote: post #10

Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi book Children of Time has a pretty cool take on the future of ant wars. I'm interviewing him in a couple weeks to talk about ecology in science fiction. If anyone has a suggestion for a question I'd love to hear it.

If you’re interested in ecology in science fiction you should give Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez a read. It’s not about ants specifically, but they play a large roll in a way (I don’t want to spoil too much and it’s been long enough since I read it I can’t remember what’s a spoiler or not). It’s a good read.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#62

Post by FrustratedMonky »

romaintailhurat wrote: post #47
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #30

Asking because it isn't spelled out in HN Guidelines. What are the actual automated rules for posting 'dupe' stories? This is a dupe from 10 days ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39400770 When I submit something that is a dupe, it gets labeled as dupe and not posted. But this post was dupe and did get posted. What are the automated rules?

Weird because the app i used for posting this story usually points me to a dupe when there is one, i'm not sure if it's part of the HN API and why this mechanism has not worked as intended.

ah. thank you. that might explain it.

I'll try the app next time, maybe that bypasses some check.

Or better, next time I submit, I'll use website regularly, and if it flags as dupe, I can switch to app and see if it bypasses the check.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#63

Post by HelloMcFly »

larsiusprime wrote: post #29
tsunamifury wrote: post #12

This article seems to be continuing the “genes eye view” of the world. That we are mostly vessels for gene propagation and socialization. Ants are becoming superior gene propagation and socialization vessels and therefor may succeed in reframing the worlds ecosystem to their goals. Of course that discounts intelligence where in we as humans could probably roundly poison them into extinction if we wanted.

I'm not convinced we could drive ants to extinction even if we tried.

I think we could, but I believe it would be the most quintessential (and likely final) Pyrrhic victory humanity has ever known.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#64

Post by dmix »

ssnri wrote: post #17
ryanblakeley wrote: post #10

Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi book Children of Time has a pretty cool take on the future of ant wars. I'm interviewing him in a couple weeks to talk about ecology in science fiction. If anyone has a suggestion for a question I'd love to hear it.

I enjoyed that book. After I read it I made my bio on dating apps: “Active, creative, hairy; but enough about Portia spiders.” My question is: how successful do you think that’s been for me as a straight man?

I'm not sure talking about hairy spiders in your opening sentence will work wonders with women.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#65

Post by fritzo »

ryanblakeley wrote: post #10

Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi book Children of Time has a pretty cool take on the future of ant wars. I'm interviewing him in a couple weeks to talk about ecology in science fiction. If anyone has a suggestion for a question I'd love to hear it.

Question for Adrian: All your sentient beings are animal-like: they are discrete animals that move around, or at weirdest are a ruinous sludge that moves around and assumes the form of animals. But might we see mycelium networks as sentient?

Zoubin Ghahramani argues that intelligence is about motion, that the sea squirt digests its own brain as soon as it settles down. But might there be intelligent communities of static individuals that nevertheless form dynamic networks?

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#66

Post by mullingitover »

permo-w wrote: post #56
mullingitover wrote: post #50

I can't believe this article doesn't mention the slave maker ants. They're fascinating. These ants live in colonies so small they fit inside an acorn. They raid other acorn ant colonies, kill adult ants indiscriminately, and abscond with their pupae. They then raise the pupae in their colony. The enslaved ants feed and care for their captors and their young, and even help their captors on future slave raids. However,…

>However, the enslaved ants opportunistically kill the queen pupae of the slave maker ants. I'm guessing by this you mean the species of ants that tend to be enslaved, rather than the enslaved ants themselves?

The enslaved ants which grew up in the slave maker ant colony kill the slave maker ant queens (along with other pupae, but they kill the queens at higher rates) in their pupal stage. They're basically in rebellion. Researchers think that this behavior is selected for, as it reduces the effectiveness of the slave maker ants and increases the odds of survival of the enslaved ant species.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#67

Post by Loughla »

dmix wrote: post #64
ssnri wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed that book. After I read it I made my bio on dating apps: “Active, creative, hairy; but enough about Portia spiders.” My question is: how successful do you think that’s been for me as a straight man?

I'm not sure talking about hairy spiders in your opening sentence will work wonders with women.

It won't work until it works really well with one specific woman.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#68

Post by nickthegreek »

derekja wrote: post #41

I've been really enjoying the AntsCanada youtube channel lately. He stages ant wars in a controlled environment and films them really well. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONd1SNf3_QqjzjCVsURNuA

Found AntsCanada a few weeks back when his new build blew up on youtube. Its now a Sunday morning staple for my partner and I.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#69

Post by AlecSchueler »

dmix wrote: post #64
ssnri wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed that book. After I read it I made my bio on dating apps: “Active, creative, hairy; but enough about Portia spiders.” My question is: how successful do you think that’s been for me as a straight man?

I'm not sure talking about hairy spiders in your opening sentence will work wonders with women.

I'm not sure women are as homogeneous as you're suggesting.

Re: Ant Geopolitics

#70

Post by vagrantJin »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #25
ryanblakeley wrote: post #10

Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi book Children of Time has a pretty cool take on the future of ant wars. I'm interviewing him in a couple weeks to talk about ecology in science fiction. If anyone has a suggestion for a question I'd love to hear it.

Love this book! I wrote Adrian after reading it and asked for permission to build a game inspired by it and received his blessing ( https://i.imgur.com/JWwNMR4.png ) :) (slight spoilers, FYI) https://ant.care/ https://github.com/MeoMix/symbiants It's my first game, so it's going pretty slowly, but the goal is to have the player fill the role of the Eliza/Kern hybrid. You send commands to your pet ant colony once-per-…

I love Adrian's work.

Take my money.

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