Please be advised that the use of the term “war” to describe “human group conflict” is highly myrmeocentric.
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@hypolite @futurebird Got it. Thanks. So one can add “-centric” to refer to virtually any POV, or more generally, frame of reference?
@meltedcheese @futurebird Absolutely. Formally, we've had geocentrism (the belief that the Universe is centered on the Earth), then heliocentrism (the belief the Universe is centered on the Sun), and many misunderstandings about the world still arise because of anthropocentrism. -
@futurebird I’ve never seen the word “myrmeocentric” nor on first pass can I find it in an online search. Will you please define it?
@meltedcheese @futurebird Centred on ants.
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@meltedcheese @futurebird Ant-centered viewpoint, to echo “anthropocentric”
@hypolite @futurebird @meltedcheese also we should change the regular word for "human" into "myr" or something.
So that: myrme :: anthro = ant :: myr, for symmetry. -
Please be advised that the use of the term “war” to describe “human group conflict” is highly myrmeocentric. Obviously, there are many similarities between the conflicts of human groups and wars but humans do not (as far as we know) form colonies. Hence, “human group conflict” is preferred by this journal.
sometimes journals contain warnings like the one that I was lampooning in the previous post. I find it funny that in their great care to avoid anthropocentrism these journals make implicitly human centered assumptions. For example: that war is a concept invented by human beings and *not* by ants who have been practicing war, for millions of years longer than people have even existed.
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sometimes journals contain warnings like the one that I was lampooning in the previous post. I find it funny that in their great care to avoid anthropocentrism these journals make implicitly human centered assumptions. For example: that war is a concept invented by human beings and *not* by ants who have been practicing war, for millions of years longer than people have even existed.
@futurebird when studies start with "we humans are dang-gum surprised that non-humans can do x" i have a hard time taking the researchers seriously. my siblings in christ, we are babies in the species game. wee babes barely able to not destroy everything we grab on to. a little humility from the sci-flavored folk goes a long way.
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sometimes journals contain warnings like the one that I was lampooning in the previous post. I find it funny that in their great care to avoid anthropocentrism these journals make implicitly human centered assumptions. For example: that war is a concept invented by human beings and *not* by ants who have been practicing war, for millions of years longer than people have even existed.
@futurebird not much hope of myrmecology coming up with ways of dealing with human war-mongering then, if the ants are still at it
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@futurebird not much hope of myrmecology coming up with ways of dealing with human war-mongering then, if the ants are still at it
Dinomyrmex gigas are very big ants. You can tell from their name. Imagine a carpenter ant, but three times as big. They live in Borneo in the forests and anyplace with trees and the tree-hoppers they love to farm.
Since they are big powerful ants all out war between colonies is very wasteful. They have a kind of "dance" majors from rival colonies will do to see which ant is "taller."
They stand with their legs as tall as possible and tap each other with antennae.
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Dinomyrmex gigas are very big ants. You can tell from their name. Imagine a carpenter ant, but three times as big. They live in Borneo in the forests and anyplace with trees and the tree-hoppers they love to farm.
Since they are big powerful ants all out war between colonies is very wasteful. They have a kind of "dance" majors from rival colonies will do to see which ant is "taller."
They stand with their legs as tall as possible and tap each other with antennae.
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Dinomyrmex gigas are very big ants. You can tell from their name. Imagine a carpenter ant, but three times as big. They live in Borneo in the forests and anyplace with trees and the tree-hoppers they love to farm.
Since they are big powerful ants all out war between colonies is very wasteful. They have a kind of "dance" majors from rival colonies will do to see which ant is "taller."
They stand with their legs as tall as possible and tap each other with antennae.
It seems clear this evolved as a way of measuring if each big major from one colony could be matched by a similar major from the other. If they don't match one group falls back and lets the more powerful ants have the branch. If not they have a peaceful border.
Of course... then there are the sidewalk ants... Tetramorium immigrans who die in huge numbers in their wars... but this is at the end of the summer when many ants die anyway for winter.
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My biggest dream is to meet these ants. They don't sting and are apparently rather gentle and will explore your hand without a problem. Though, that is a dried specimen I think.
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My biggest dream is to meet these ants. They don't sting and are apparently rather gentle and will explore your hand without a problem. Though, that is a dried specimen I think.
@futurebird @golgaloth @wavesculptor Thinking of making a gigantic habitat?
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@futurebird @golgaloth @wavesculptor Thinking of making a gigantic habitat?
@michaelgemar @golgaloth @wavesculptor
I wonder if a nice museum would let me do that... or I could move there. They are kind of hard to keep for a hobby at home, you'd need to give them a whole room of your house to do it correctly IMO. They live in huge hollow trees and forage over long distances.
But you could have hamster tubes all over a zoo or museum with ants in them, huge exciting ants it'd be wonderful!
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