An imaginary satirical metaphor.
Think about it. How do you tell an ant that it is:
- Sexless
- Works for everybody else in a sterile slave-like capacity
- It has no other purpose than to work, work and ,work for the benefit of all others.
Supposing you could establish any kind of communication with an ant and you and “it” could understand each other, how would you explain to an ant what it is that it is doing? An ant does not mind its faith (I am not even sure it has one – mind that is – that we humans can relate to). Its purpose is to work for ,errr , for the colony of course, for the queen (ant), and for the benefit of all.
An ant will not understand personal wishes, desires, dreams, individual soul and consciousness, and stuff like that. This is irrelevant (for the ant) since it does not matter for the greater good of the colony. An ant’s life is irrelevant. An individual ant means nothing. They’re in it together and they count only in as much as they serve the , I am not sure what precisely they serve. The colony? The queen (ant)? The drones (which are the few males who can have sex)?
Did you know that ants form colonies that consist mostly of sterile, wingless females forming castes of “workers”, “soldiers”, or other specialized groups? Oh, there are some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens”.
The other day I saw a bunch of ants working hard to bring food back to the colony. That’s what they do – day in and day out. Actually during the night they might have other jobs .
It was a fascinating exercise to watch them. One of them, the worker who maybe thought “I will work better and harder to prove myself worthy” was sometimes pulling, sometimes carrying a piece of something about 10 times bigger than its body size.
And I said to myself watching its struggle “Wow, she surely hopes to be promoted at least for a day to the rank of “drone”. At least she can have sex and participate in the perpetuation of the ants’ species!
Isn’t that nice?
According to the article “‘Asexual’ Ants May Be Having Sex After All” by Daniel Strain
“Celibate animal species are rare for a reason, Rabeling says. Because asexual populations can’t mix and match genes through mating, they often lack the genetic diversity to respond to unexpected challenges like disease.”
Wow! So they can simply disappear one day if an infectious or otherwise disease strikes the colony!
I am really surprised since ant “societies” have “division of labor” and communication between individuals, and were a subject of intense study because of the parallels with human societies. Moreover they have also been an inspiration for the human society. In fact you’re told perpetually that you don’t count as an individual and only the society in general counts. Your life has no intrinsic value unless it serves a purpose for society. Seems like an ant’s life!
Wow again! I like ants (if they stay out of my house) but to compare a human being to an ant is a little much for me.
I wonder what ants think about us?
Be well