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Comment by RHSman2 | Hacker News Reader

I have a cherry tree. Grown from a sapling. A few years ago I noticed the leaves turning in. Aphids. I then discovered that Ants farm those aphids. They place a guard ant to stop predators (lady bugs) and let this black little fellas grow and grow. Then the other ants feed off their sugary goodness. Incredible. Where does that direction come from? Collective consciousness with inherent intelligence?

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It is interesting, an ants brain must be the size of a pin head and runs on how much energy ? Yet some how they solve problems like that and can co-ordinate in large numbers.

I despise using poisons of any kind against insects and animals for this reason.

Even watching butterflies dance together while flying around is quite fascinating. I guess they must have some kind of self-awareness too?

I have a bird near my place who stops nuts from a large height to crack then open. I only can imagine what that bird might do if it had hands ha

Being lucky enough to have a garden and partaking in ‘experiments’ of growing things really has opened my eyes to the magic of nature. I was always an outdoors person but was a consumer of sorts. Digging in some beds and doing my own compost I have really started to think about soil, the role of worms and the lower level, taken for granted, entities. Life has a frequency and observing it in play is incredible.

Which is why I always squint at people claiming only humans have intelligence. Have they ever seen an animal? And I don't mean now the "soul" discussion, just the intelligence for which the goalposts often get swiftly moved "oh they can't solve equations" "most humans can't either" "ok but they can't paint" "elephants do that" "yeah but...".

We talk about strength and relative strength. Ants! Their relative intelligence is off the scale! I think our egos are much bigger than our intelligence

A final anecdote: I have 2 boys with ADHD (inattentive and impulsive) and I also have low grade impulsive ADHD. I also have an English Pointer who is a hunting dog (but doesn’t) When you have these fairly ‘disobedient’ or strongly instinct driven creatures, it teaches you a lot about what it takes to assimilate a sentient being into another’s way of life.

I am still working on it across all beings! However, I have come to the conclusion that a certain amount of toeing the line is possible but left to their own devices, they probably would!

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