An Ant Army Short Story

Within any community, it is safe to say that the goal of maintaining a society that prospers on for many years is common. Establishing order is key to developing a prosperous society. Order, whether it be defined as assigning roles in society, or establishing a set of rules to maintain control, can be done through various approaches. The pondering question however lies in what is the best approach to establish order. This common question has been prominent throughout time, and has been debated in government and society. The debate in how society should establish order regularly results in contrasting opinions. In the essay "The Myth of the Ant Queen," by Steven Johnson, and in the excerpt “The Code of Hammurabi” from Society and Law in Ancient Babylonia, two distinct approaches to establishing order in society are discussed. I believe that through strict reinforcements, order in society can be established. In the essay “Man’s Nature is Evil” by Hsun Tzu, the human nature in society helps explain why strict reinforcements is the most efficient way to establish order. In Steven Johnson’s essay “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” he describes an interesting way in how the establishment of order arises. He argues that society can build itself up and maintain order without the need of a ruler or a set of laws. Through the observation of ants and how they behave in their environment, he explains how ants are able to establish an intricate yet simple

In the Prologue of Black Ants and Buddhist, the teacher is always engaging her students with real-world situations and meaningful conversations where the students all seem to be comfortable voicing their own opinion. With the discussion led in her classroom children could hear from other perspectives, which I believe will make the students more empathic and understanding to others beliefs and opinions. With the ant situation the children were able to come to an agreement and also a way to prevent ants from invading the classroom again. I loved how this situation was handled and how the children led most of the conversation with such maturity! I hope one day I will be able to manage my classroom with such

Today’s society has changed immensely over the years. Now it is okay to be who you truly are and to not be judged by society. But years ago, unique people were judged and put down by society: such as in the story “Antaeus”. The character T.J. is different from his town, but becomes accepted by his friends, but unfortunately not by adults, who put him down. In the short story “Antaeus” by Borden Deal, the character T.J. is a representation of man, who is unique from the rest of his town’s society, which sparks purpose in friends, but they ultimately fail at the hands of authority figures.

In chapter 9 of the book Black Ants and Buddhists it talks about the different situations that families and teachers may encounter inside and outside a classroom setting. One of the situations that it talks about in this chapter is about different types of families and their origins. Talking to students about their families it might be challenging because as a future teacher we might not know what is their situation or who is taking care of them. For instance, last year when I worked in a school I told a student that his mom and dad would be so proud to see that he had made a 100 in the test. I noticed that he was upset when I told him that, he later on told me that he lives with his grandma, I felt bad for the entire day because I didn’t

“The Electric Ant” is a science fiction short story written by Philip K. Dick and published in 1969. In this setting, the story takes place in a distant alternative universe. Mankind’s identity and freedom are being questioned in this futuristic society. Indeed, the plot explores the identity of a protagonist who has been disconnected from reality after an accident, by being transformed into an organic robot. A being that is no longer human despite having the skin, the flesh and the physical body of a man. The story focuses on the shift of reality perceived by an organic robot. Nevertheless, it brings us a closer look at how the perspective of reality is approached from the point of view of a sub-social class. As the story goes on, the protagonist becomes more and more obsessed with his individuality and true freedom. The plot emphasis on the development of the main character’s identity throughout the story.

“The creation of a structure of good and evil…[is] a function of intelligence-unquestionably the ultimate evil may [be] the destruction of conscious intelligence.”(8) In the psychoanalytical story ‘The Large Ant’, by Howard Fast, a multitude of facets portray how fear morphed history throughout time. ‘The Large Ant’ locates itself some years after the Second World war, atom bombs having been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With a communist regime on the rise, ‘The Large Ant’ parallels Cold War hostilities and breaks apart the intentions of a humanity through the use of theories, including classical conditioning, defence mechanisms, and group influences.

Human beings did not always hold the reins as the most superior creatures in this universe. A

The “Ants Marching” relates to one of the most influential transcendentalists of all time. From “Ants Marching” the quote “The week ends the week begins She thinks, we look at each other Wondering what the other is thinking But we never say a thing These crimes between us grow deeper” relates to one of Thoreau's

James is greeted by some insects. The insects are very nice to James, and in return, a friendship is created. “Cheer up, my boy, cheer up”, the centipede said, (James and The Giant Peach, 43). The friends that he meets help James feel better without being treated horribly. James goes on marvelous adventures with these insects and they build a strong relationship.”

While technology is commonly thought of as inventions and gadgets, anything that humans have developed for specific purposes or to accomplish certain goals, such as methods or models, must also be correctly categorized as such. In Cathy Davidson’s essay “Project Classroom Makeover,” she discusses a few unconventional forms of technology such as the educational classroom paradigm and standardization. Similarly, in Steve Johnson’s essay “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” he presents procedural technology, such as self-organizing systems, and conceptual technology, collaborative intelligence. He then utilizes another conceptual form of technology, the complexity theory, to interpret these systems’ seemingly uncoordinated patterns. Sherry Turkle branches off of Davidson and Johnson’s ideas by discussing the consequences of questioning what makes a robot alive in her essay “Alone Together.” This narrative highlights the technology’s effect on humans and the reality of robots either improving or diminishing an individual’s quality of life. Besides the slight apprehension of its future usage, humans are mesmerized by the promising potential technology presents. Additionally, structural or paradigmatic technology is deeply intertwined and inherent within society’s functioning, making it impossible to separate technology from human existence.

It is clear that there are many things that shape people’s identity. It could be family, surrounding, culture and many other things. These things help people to become who they are and affect the way they see the world around them. The question what shapes the identity is discussed in the works “Selection from love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become” by Barbara Frederickson, “The Naked Citadel” by Susan Faludi, and “The Myth of the Ant Queen” by Steven Johnson. The authors view this question from different perspectives. However, there is one common thing that could be seen in all the three works. The authors prove that person’s identity is mostly shaped by interaction with other people and the

Each ant and has specific task, which it completes repeatedly. The absolute power exerted by the leader destroys all individualism, leaving the ants with no creativity. Instead, they use trail and error to complete tasks that should take only a small amount of thought. Wart sees this occur when an ant tries with difficulty to organize three cadavers in a small burial chamber, when a small amount of reasoning would of solved the problem quickly. The ants are of a collective mind, so that what one thinks, they all think. They go about their daily lives oblivious to the control the leader has over them.

We are all animals. Although we like to believe we are superior and justify many of our actions on this ideology. The truth is quite different. We share countless, undeniable similarities with “animals” and to pretend we are some super being that transcends animals status is foolish.

Technology has tremendously changed human social behavior, which has provided a convenient way for people to communicate and collaborate with each other. For instance, Cathy Davidson, the author of “Project Classroom Makeover,” points out, there is a need to renew the current education system so that it meets the new expectation of the digital era. She discusses how technology improves social interaction when students work collectively through crowdsourcing. In “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” Steven Johnson provides the example of the complex systems in ant colonies, cities of Manchester and Internet by emphasizing the importance of collective working that intelligence emerges when people work together. On the other side, Sherry Turkle argues that technology has turned human beings become isolated. In her article “Alone Together: Why We Expect A Lot from Technology and Less from Each Other,” she discusses how humanity is transformed into a “robotic’ moment due to technology. Therefore, technology does not only help to form collective learning and social interaction that can provide an adequate platform for sharing social values, but also isolate people from each other if they rely too much on technology.

Humans face the possibility of extinction (The benefits of artificial intelligence.2016). The reason is that power is not dependent on strength, wealth, appearance or