Althouse: Have you ever heard of insect emotion? Neither had I.

October 21, 2021

Have you ever heard of insect emotion? Neither had I.

22 comments:

tim maguire said...: It’s human to feel bad for the one who got left behind by the friends it just helped, but that is no indication the ants feel that way. Not even the one who got left behind.; 10/21/21, 6:01 AM
Iman said...: Some people should’ve received the death penalty for this…

https://youtu.be/7tqtA20sZXI; 10/21/21, 6:14 AM
Mr. Forward said...: Well I did see a centipede at the laundromat trying to match socks.; 10/21/21, 6:16 AM
rehajm said...: Yo! L’il help, please…; 10/21/21, 7:16 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I once came upon an ant, head on it's forearm, sobbing as though it's heart would break. I asked it what was the matter, but it was too upset. It just waved me off with it's other arm so left it there. Was that wrong? I mean I didn't even know this ant. It's problems were none of my business really. I like to think it eventually regained it's composure and was fine, but who knows?; 10/21/21, 7:25 AM
Temujin said...: It's obvious racism.; 10/21/21, 7:57 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The feelers! So feeling!; 10/21/21, 7:58 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I see an Afghan analogy there. Sad. If we had real journalists in this country we would be seeing people in the news instead of ants. Apparently none of Althouse’s favorite sources are covering the horrible case of thousands left behind. Let’s go Brandon!; 10/21/21, 8:15 AM
Owen said...: The very picture of formic dejection.; 10/21/21, 8:17 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Poor little ant. the other ants don't care, do they? cold hearted.; 10/21/21, 9:04 AM
Paddy O said...: I think it's funny to dismiss emotions in animals. Emotions are no intellectual responses to experienced stimuli. They exist in a kind of primal way and point to ways of understanding the world at our core self. Ants may not have the ability to share their emotions with an ant psychologist but the instinctive response to yearning and frustration, being left behind is present and we shouldn't fel bad about giving it a fitting label.; 10/21/21, 9:24 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I thought ants were the most altruistic of all the insect world.

We know next to nothing about everything.; 10/21/21, 10:15 AM
PM said...: "Truly wonderful pathetic fallacy is."; 10/21/21, 11:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I thought ants were the most altruistic of all the insect world."

I thought the ants were only about the group, and there was a group feeling, such that 2 ants getting on and 1 left helpless would just be good for the ants as a whole, and the left-behind guy would be meaningless. But in the video — as seen subjectively by a human — the lone ant seems quite real to herself.; 10/21/21, 11:48 AM
Quaestor said...: Maybe maybe maybe

Nope nope nope.

This sort of bridging behavior is common among the ants, particularly among the driver species. The ants left behind on the other side of the gap wander around and eventually die or fall into the gap and immediately die, while the colony marches on remorselessly without a second thought, never mind there was no first thought. Research suggests the ants that form bridges are older and therefore nearer to death, which leaves the younger, more vigorous workers reaping a disproporationate benefit. Young ant privilege.

Notice that the bottom ant is clawing with her forelegs and frantically waving her antennae while the other two are crawling on her up toward the overhanging leaf. This is bridging behavior in action. The behavior follows very simple rules that are mindlessly executed as long as the stimuli, which include chemical stimuli deposited by other ants, are present.

The forlorn limb and antennae movements that some people misinterpret as signs of emotion -- frustration, disappointment, loneliness, whatever -- is just typical ant behavior that slows down and halts as the triggering pheromones wear off.; 10/21/21, 12:14 PM
Iman said...: “But in the video — as seen subjectively by a human — the lone ant seems quite real to herself.”

Watch yer pronouns! But can shim move a rubber tree plant?; 10/21/21, 12:54 PM
Tom T. said...: She wasn't trying to help the others. She followed a scent trail as far as she could, and now she's stopped and waving her arms because the scent trail goes up to the leaf above, but there's nothing to grab onto. The others came upon her standing there and followed the scent trail further by climbing up onto her and reaching the leaf above.; 10/21/21, 2:05 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: The real treasure was the friends they made along the way.; 10/21/21, 2:28 PM
Howard said...: Humane beans don't have free will but ants do according to the nineteenth century philistine Immanuel Hegel Kierkegaard.; 10/21/21, 3:05 PM
Dave64 said...: Disney started this nonsense.; 10/21/21, 3:22 PM
Scot said...: Therapist: Why are you here?

Worker: Some of my sisters ran away from me again and I'm sick of it.

Therapist: How many brothers & sisters do you have?

Ant: We are a small family. Only about 100,000.

Therapist: Ah. In small families, there is often competition between siblings. Do your brothers bother you?

Ant: I hear rumors of brothers, but I've never seen them. They're probably a bunch of layabouts, same as my father.

Therapist: Talk about your father.

Ant: A bum. Never did a day of work in his life. Knocked up my mother and promptly disappeared. I hope I never meet him.

Therapist: I'm sure you won't. How about your mother?

Ant: My mother is literally a queen. I would do anything for her. My little sisters & I meet every morning & discuss how we will help her. Lately, it seems I am getting stuck with the boring jobs. "Hold hands with Alice-11 & lay over that crack so we can crawl across. Stand up & give us a lift up onto this leaf." Stuff like that. I guess it makes sense. Alice-11 & I are tall because we are among the oldest.

Therapist: I see. Well .... your pheremone tells me our time is at an end. I have a feeling that your problem will work itself out fairly soon, so don't make another appointment. Please send in your sister.; 10/21/21, 5:37 PM
Quaestor said...: Howard can spell Kierkegaard. He deserves a cookie.

(pssst... No chips.); 10/21/21, 8:47 PM