It was either this or a post about your mom. I mean, my mom.
A clip from the Science Channel on the architectural wonders of an ant colony (via kottke):
It's beautiful and amazing, no doubt. But on kottke, it was stated that the colony was abandoned before the scientists poured 10 tons of cement into it and... um, no. You can still see ants crawling around the periphery of the frame in the shots of the cement disappearing down the ant tunnels. And I get scientific advancement and ends justifying means and Lora, they're only ants and yadda yadda so on-- but, I don't know. It just reminds me of colonization. "Oh, they're only stupid savages, they won't mind if we build on their land and kill them off with our foreign diseases and turn the survivors into our slaves."
Put another way, those ants built the ant equivalent of the Great Wall of China, only to have it filled with cement and then excavated because some scientists were curious as to what they were up to. Barbarians! Will no one think of the ants?
No.
Posted by: Marc | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 03:38 PM
ant-ists!
Posted by: aja | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 07:37 PM
one could say that the knowledge we've gathered from excavating that one colony has allowed us to appreciate the beauty and complexity in all ant colonies
i mean, who knew what an ant colony really looked like?
Posted by: Nick | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Shit amazed t' fu' outtame.
Posted by: Jim | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 11:43 PM
They're ants. If they were in my house I would kill them without a second thought. If a farmer was plowing his field he'd kill them without a second thought. If a builder was making a building she'd kill them without a second thought. You're saying the only time it's inappropriate to kill them is when you're appreciating the structure and beauty of their work?
Posted by: Dave Munger | Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 11:31 AM
As an Indian, I reject your comparison of us to ants. They're just ants.
That colony is incredible though. Looks futuristic.
Posted by: Adam | Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Seeing what incredible things ants can create makes me think a lot less about our own achievements.
Posted by: common Japanese words | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 04:31 AM
Seeing what incredible things ants can create makes me think a lot less about our own achievements.
Posted by: eveisk | Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 02:53 AM