People often make me wonder. The things we do and don’t even realise we are following the group or being part of a herd. One day I was driving north on the freeway when again I was stuck in traffic. Frustrated I began to think: what the hell is wrong here? A few minutes later we began to speed up and slow down. Up and down and up and down. Finally some 45 minutes later when I got to the cause of problem I noticed a man standing behind a car someone had torched days earlier that was off the side of the road and nowhere near the traffic. I learned something from this: people are the same as ants in many ways. We stop. We think in discernible group patterns and we act accordingly. Here are some examples that I have also noticed.
Social Networks
People can whine about Myspace, Facebook or Friendster all they like. You know what, those sites are only popular because people forms groups around them and share common interests. They ‘hive’ around concepts. People who have mastered the art of being creaters of social networks have become the stuff of web legend. Popular language calls them mavens, sneezers, influencers and the like. I prefer the term pioneer because I think there is always that person out of the front of the group who can discern ahead of time what it likely to be popular and yes they usually pay the price for it.
Communication in groups
Ants have a knowing that allows them to build great things as part of a huge chain of communication. How do they do it? I don’t know and if you are reading this I am not sure I care to know. All I know is that I see them build huge nests. That is a team effort therefore they somehow communicate information to each other to make that happen. Consider Digg. A source of joy and frustration for bloggers. Digg is a hive. Sure, it’s moderated and has a hierarchy to it which surprises people. Still, it’s built by group communication, clicking and just enough manipulation to make it work. Ants!
Group perceptions and thoughts
We like similar things. I really like CSI, Torchwood, Doctor Who yet for me to enjoy these fine programs there has to be other people who enjoy them. In fact there has to be enough people to enjoy them and spread them around through group communication. Stephen King said it this way in On Writing… we can communicate using our minds. I can say tree and you have already seen what I am thinking in your mind. That’s telekinesis right there. You are seeing what I am saying when I say tree. It’s probably not the same tree but you get my point. Group perceptions are the same. We believe things in groups and build our identities around it.
In this video we have liberal (Australian Conservatives) and the Labour (the opposite). Notice how the comedy trio make light of the situation by playing on group perceptions. They use various political ideas and the way the recent Australian election was promoted as a way to share with us different ideas. The media do this in many many ways. People respond in a typical either/or logic box. Thus we are forced to take sides with two idiots.
Queens and Kings
In some ant societies there are head honchos which we call Queens. So it is in society we elect officials, make things popular and so on. We give people like Paris Hilton attention. We make Harry Potter a legend, we give precedence and through our group activity support and maintain the status quo. Over and over again. These things are made popular through interacting group perceptions, ideas and notions. Our queens and kinds are those we give ‘royal’ status through our constant conversations.
The chain gang mentality
Ants work in a straight line one after the other. I was watching them climb the wall at my house the other day and I wondered why do they do that. The know to go one after the other and form a line. As I thought about this I thought about work and how we do much the same thing. We work, never really questioning why this is the way things are and become part of a chain in a really long line. Day in and day out… nothing really changes.
Strategic Thinking and Action
Ants are great at thinking bigger picture. They are fantastic and making small things grow into big things. So are we. When we work together that is. In my family, as I imagine it is in yours, there is a lot of feuding. Being the ‘peacemaker’ in the family I often find myself in the middle of it. More times than I can count people make ideas they think are important which are really not. We hold our ground when we could work together to make peace. The amount of times I have seen great projects or research destroyed because people could not push aside their egos to work together. Alas, it’s no wonder the world is in such a mess.
Moving heavy objects
Okay so this is where we part company with ants… we can’t move eight times our own weight. AND we don’t have eight legs either.
In this observation we must remember that comparisons of us with insects is interesting but ultimately there is one thing that separates us from them. Our ability to destroy things. Humans have an uncanny ability to form ideological perceptions that destroy nations, spread evil and hate each other. Do ants hate? I have no idea. I am not an expert in insects. I can say that I admire their team spirit and willingness to work together to form complex wholes… something I rarely see humans do.
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January 18th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Humans easily move more than eight times their own weight, using mechanical advANTage. And ants, like humans, have six legs, not eight (like three humans, that is…typically).
February 24th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Yes people are like ants and they must be crushed like ants, crushed i say!
February 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I agree, stamp on their little colony and KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!
February 24th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I agree, stamp on their colonies and wipe them out!!! Mahahaha!!
February 24th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I usually don’t post spammy comments but this is just too funny. Do I detect a hint of evil?
February 25th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Look Luke, sometimes you just need to accept that there are winners (us) and losers (ant people) and they clearly need stamped out!!…this is no joke!! We are actually securing a deal with terrorists as we speak to wipe out all the dreadful ‘Ant people’ that are affecting our usually happy lives…Do you want to join us???…..DO IT!!!!! DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!! Kirsty Wirsty
February 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
………I witness the ‘ants’ getting off of their buses clutching their containers of fizzy drinks with burger ketchup smeared across their identikit faces. I watch them scurry from discount shop to discount shop all nattering away about the merits of one or another ‘ant’ television programme- big brother, pop idol, et al. When these ants die no one really cares and no one even notices, just like real ants!!!!
Crush the ants in their crushed velvet tracksuits!!!
February 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
The ants aer required for the manual tasks (until computerised substitutes become economically available) but they should be separated from us socially and only be allowed to breed when new ants are required.
I have heard many ants proclaim that they love their ‘life partners’ and their offspring, but what do they know of love or emotion?
February 25th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
love or emotion is just a ’smell’ to ant people.
Normally Jazz or a perfume by ‘Kylie’leads their paths up the aisles of frozen food conenience stores.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
[...] The title says it all. People who think they can dominate you through overpowering you with their rank are very insecure. Their is a flipside or two to this subject as well… they are dangerous. People that have no clue as to leadership and how to be a cool person will almost always slam you down to the ground just to do it. Your choice is to be a person that people remark about in a positive way. You don’t want to be in the same group as people who are bootlickers of the machine empire of doom. No, you want to be a person who is a creative light unto the world, bringing joy and peace with you. Not some sense of worth derived from wealth, money, rank or something artificial like that. Robots are robots… never forget that. They will always do what the machine wants. See my post about ants if you need more info there. [...]