Like ants : a model for human civilization?

201 Pages·2017·1.161 MB·English

by  Andy Turnbull

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Algora Publishing
New York
© 2017 by Algora Publishing.
All Rights Reserved
www.algora.com
No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by
Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976)
may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the
express written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data —
Names: Turnbull, Andy, author.
Title: Like ants: A model for human civilization?/ Andy Turnbull.
Description: New York: Algora Publishing, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017037754 (print) | LCCN 2017039152 (ebook) | ISBN
9781628943085 (pdf) | ISBN 9781628943061 (soft cover: alk. paper) | ISBN
9781628943078 (hard cover: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Human evolution—Social aspects. | Behavior evolution.
Classification: LCC GN281.4 (ebook) | LCC GN281.4 .T88 2017 (print) | DDC
599.93/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017037754
Printed in the United States

Like Ants
Table of Contents
Top Dogs 1
The Herd 5
The Past 19
Belief 20
Conventional Wisdom 24
The Roots of Civilization 29
Systems and Metasystems 35
Metasystems 39
Real Life Examples 45
The Nature of Systems and Metasystems 46
Compound Metasystems 48
Wheels Within Wheels 50
Living on Autopilot 52
A System as a Life Form 54
The Village 54
Swarm Intelligence 58
Trade 61
The Agricultural Revolution 70
The Conquest 72
Taking the Village 74
The Occupied Village 75
Castes 76
The Lucifer Effect 77
Soldiers and Slaves 79
The Cash Economy 82
Makers and Takers 85
ix
Like Ants
A Community of Friends and Enemies 87
The New Order 88
The New Takers 90
Lawyers 97
Managers 100
Schools 103
School Sports 112
Advanced Education 112
The Einstellung Effect 116
Plans 117
The Persuaders 122
Propaganda and Advertising 127
Collateral Propaganda 128
Barnum’s Law 129
Propaganda and Education 140
Advertising 141
Subliminal Suggestion 142
The Subliminal Content of Entertainment 144
False Memories 147
The Mind Benders 149
Chain Media 151
The War on the Family 153
Youth in Rebellion 158
The Battle of the Sexes 159
Women’s Work 162
The Plight of the Children 168
Day Care 170
Breeding Like Insects 176
The Final Steps 178
Recap 180
Wrapping It Up 191
x
top dogs
Most people think humans are the dominant species on Earth, but
that’s a conceit. We are the most destructive species but we are not
the oldest, the largest or the one most likely to survive after we have
destroyed most of nature.
There are about seven and a half billion of us, and we have been
around, as humans, for perhaps a million years. Biologists tell us there
are about ten thousand trillion ants in the world — so many that their
total weight is about the same as all of humanity — and they have
been around for more than 100 million years.1
Among the 9,500 species of ants that have been identified, some
hunt other insects, some scavenge, some enslave other varieties
of ants, some tend herds of aphids and some grow fungus in
underground farms. Most live in carefully engineered nests, many
with their own water supply and engineered ventilation. Some nests
are underground, some are tunneled into living or dead trees, some
are made of leaves sewn together to form an enclosed hammock in
living trees and some are made of forest litter. Some ants never come
up to the Earth’s surface and some never come down to the ground.
Most have a permanent home nest but some are nomadic — spending
most of their time on the move and stopping only to bivouac for a few
weeks while their queen lays eggs.
Ants watched the rise of the dinosaurs and saw them die out.
They saw the rise of humanity and they will probably be here to wave
goodbye when we die out.
Biologist E. O. Wilson says the leaf cutter ants of Central America
have perhaps the most complex insect society on Earth, often with
millions of insects living in an underground nest that may be as big as
a school bus. We see them as lines of workers, each carrying a section
1 Hölldobler, Bert and Edward O Wilson, Journey to the Ants, The Belknap Press of
HUP, Cambridge, Mass, 1994, pg. 1.
1