Army Ants
Anthony Palmieri
November 20, 1996
Contemporary Science Topics
A quote made by Lewis Thomas, "Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungus, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, and exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television." I am going to focus this report on the part of the quote, "..launch armies into war..," which sets a metaphor of ants and our armies in today's society. Ants have many tactics, so to speak, that are similar to the way our armies have when going to war. Ants have many different roles in their society. One of the main roles that army ants or soldier ants have is that they
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They do this because footing for the large ants is better along the margins than in the midst of dense mass of scurrying ants. When the army wants to invade or occupy a county, they usually will set up aircraft carriers in the surrounding oceans and set up air forces in neighboring countries. They do this to protect the inside forces of troops and clears out a root for them to attack. They did this type of tactic during the
Persian Gulf War when we sent aircraft carriers into the Persian Gulf and the
Mediterranean and set up air forces and troops in the neighboring countries to set up an attack. We later launched sea and air attacks to weaken the forces in
Iraq. We need these forces surrounding the area to launch missions to kill or damage the powerful sources and then we send in the troops to tack care of the rest, like taking hostages or capturing any of our hostages. When the ants are sent from the bivouac, the leading ants have no odor for others to follow. They often hesitate and hold back an advance but the pressure built up from behind forces on side of the front line to bulge forward.
As this movement slows down because of the relief of pressure behind it, a new bulge develops and extends forward in another part of the front. The result is a series of advances of different parts of the front which suggests flanking movements. A presence of prey will accelerate the
There was a numerous amount strategies that an abundance of countries came up with and used during World War I and World War II these countries came up with these strategies to help better their chances of winning the war. Some of these strategies include Trench warfare, Island hopping, Kamikaze and Atomic bombs, all of these strategies were very effective and helped their country. Trench warfare and Island hopping were the most effective strategies during World War I and World War II because they helped better the United States.
After these targets are destroyed, we should use ground troops and aircraft to search for and destroy the enemy and its resources. These resources include: factories that produce bombs, guns, etc.; command centers; and all wartime equipment.
The ant colony, which is the movie’s source of struggle and triumph, represents a typical old traditional economy. The ants relied on the fruits of their own labor. In other words, they are farmers like the other third-world countries in our today’s world. However, the time came when they no longer farm for themselves anymore. Since the beginning of the movie, the ants had to spend all of their time grazing for the grasshoppers. This is a classical depiction of a powerful nation
“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.
Edwards compares man and his righteousness to insects to demonstrate the unworthiness and insignificance of man. “The God that holds you over the pits of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over a fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked:”. In this imagery, Edwards tells how the only thing keeping humanity from Hell is God holding them in His hand. However, God’s wrath is also depicted, as Edwards describes God holding them as if they were loathsome bugs or spiders. This emphasizes the huge size of God’s wrath, as generally people do not like bugs and would gladly throw them in fire. This stresses the dangerous situation humanity is in, saying that they are all hanging by a string over Hell and would cause the audience to repent and seek salvation. “… all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell, than a spider's
Doing so assisted in a combined fire action with Woodruff’s guns to slow the Union advance long enough to stabilize the situation on Bloody Hill. (George E. Knapp, 1953).
They [the mob] advanced to the points of the bayonets, struck some of them and even the
This was to be a joint operation between British, French and American forces. Though it was not the actual boundaries, the Meuse River and the Argonne Forrest restricted much of the U.S. 1st Army’s maneuverability between them. This area was comprised of a very dense and thick vegetation with few roads for heavy equipment and supplies to flow forth once the offensive began; therefore this was to be used to the Allied Powers advantage. The Germans would be attacked all along the front from British, French, and American forces simultaneously.
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.
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.
He also anthropomorphizes the emotions and motivations of the ant war when he says “[i]t was evident that their battle-cry was ‘Conquer or die.’” He is alluding to human war and the rhetoric and propaganda that are associated with it.
In Chris Cleave’s Little Bee and Incendiary, the characters Little Bee and the unnamed narrator respectively, undergo a traumatic experience in the early stages of the books. Little Bee is confined in an immigration detention center upon her arrival in England for not having legal documents to prove her age. Meanwhile, the unnamed narrator has her life blown apart by a terrorist attack that kills her husband and four year old son. Both characters lose the hope and faith in their world and adjust to their new lives accordingly. Little Bee disguises herself physically, verbally, and legally in order to stay safe from the dangers of her new life. The narrator combats her emotional breakdown by helping to investigate the instigator behind the
to show how quickly they had to react to the attack and to draw our
Tax policy: I will need to look at certain levels of tax. If tax is
A slow red sphere, pulsating with light and energy, rose across the hazy horizon; feeding the once dark and bleak island with colours, sound, and life. It was like an artist’s canvass slowly coming to life, as splashed the surface with colours and hues, and carefully put together his masterpiece. The island suddenly lit up as if someone had suddenly twisted the brightness knob on a television set, and flicked on the volume. The dark and mysterious trees and plants suddenly lit up with radiant joy, and I saw the finer detail of my surroundings in the brightness of the morning sun. As I got up I saw a multitude of ants scurrying about on the dark gnarled root, I gazed deeper into the ants world, staring in fascination at the various dark