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Capitalism in Ant Colonies
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/08/gordon_on_ants.html ^

Posted on 12/06/2007 7:42:10 PM PST by linuxster

Deborah M. Gordon, Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, is an authority on ants and order that emerges without control or centralized authority. The conversation begins with what might be called the economics of ant colonies, how they manage to be organized without an organizer, the division of labor and the role of tradeoffs. The discussion then turns to the implications for human societies and the similarities and differences between human and natural orders.


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perhaps we should learn a lesson from the way ants have learned to survive
1 posted on 12/06/2007 7:42:11 PM PST by linuxster
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To: linuxster

Ants don’t have wants beyond their dire needs.


2 posted on 12/06/2007 7:44:36 PM PST by cripplecreek (Only one consistent conservative in this race and his name is Hunter.)
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To: cripplecreek

The standard of living of the average ant hasn’t increased in several million years.

But on the other hand, neither have their taxes. Maybe there is something to be said for it afterall.


3 posted on 12/06/2007 7:47:41 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: linuxster

An interesting book.

4 posted on 12/06/2007 7:55:20 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: Brilliant

LOL bttt


5 posted on 12/06/2007 7:56:08 PM PST by Matchett-PI (Algore - there's not a more priggish, sanctimonious moral scold of a church lady anywhere.)
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To: linuxster

The Ant
by Ogden Nash

The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?


6 posted on 12/06/2007 7:57:35 PM PST by Jeff Chandler ("Liberals want to save the world for the children they aren't having." -Mark Steyn)
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To: Brilliant

Next thing you know all the teenage ants will just have to have the latest Nintendo. The ants will begin importing cheap aphid labor from outside the colony and before long the ants won’t produce anything of their own. Then they’ll be at the mercy of neighboring colonies producing everything for them and poisoning them in the process.


7 posted on 12/06/2007 7:59:22 PM PST by cripplecreek (Only one consistent conservative in this race and his name is Hunter.)
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To: linuxster

wow! queen hillary........


8 posted on 12/06/2007 8:01:35 PM PST by tired1 (responsibility without authority is slavery!)
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To: linuxster
perhaps we should learn a lesson from the way ants have learned to survive

Socialism works for ants and bees because within the hive they are all identical clones. There is no competition for survival between members of the same hive because the hive is the genetically unique unit. As long as it survives, then the genetic makeup of all of it's members will be passed to the next generation.

I'm not sure if you could get people to abandon the idea of their own individuality or the importance of their own survival, but I suspect you could do terrible damage in the attempt.

9 posted on 12/06/2007 8:15:50 PM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: linuxster

A human being should be able to change a diaper,
plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship.
design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations,
analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer,
cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.

Robert Anson Heinlein


10 posted on 12/06/2007 8:16:23 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Rudy,Romney,McCain, Huckabee will send a self-abused stomped elephant to the DRNC.)
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To: cripplecreek

Man, you’ve been pessimized:)


11 posted on 12/06/2007 9:36:28 PM PST by DancesWithBolsheviks (If someone is 'turning his life around' you best stay away.)
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To: linuxster

“Them”


12 posted on 12/06/2007 10:33:31 PM PST by onedoug
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To: linuxster; MinuteGal; Billthedrill; AnAmericanMother; Charles Henrickson; aculeus; ...
‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
Consider her ways, and be wise.’
Well, I’ve been to the ant, and I’m buggered
If I think it’s one up on us guys;
All that rushing about is damn silly,
(And uneconomic, I bet),
I’d rather consider the lily,
It’s got Solomon beat—and no sweat.

— Stanley J. Sharpless.


13 posted on 12/06/2007 10:41:16 PM PST by dighton
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To: Brilliant

You shouldn’t make an assumption about their taxes without knowing about the currency they use.


14 posted on 12/07/2007 5:29:59 AM PST by kylaka
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To: cripplecreek

What happens when Mexican ants start invading?!?!


15 posted on 12/07/2007 7:33:20 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

hahaha I like that quote. it’s been my tag line on the site I help run (in my tagline here).


16 posted on 12/07/2007 7:34:25 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: linuxster; PGalt

Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Political Entomology, Part II: Liberal Ants and Their Circular Mill

http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/2005/12/political-entomology-part-ii-liberal.html


17 posted on 12/07/2007 8:06:17 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Algore - there's not a more priggish, sanctimonious moral scold of a church lady anywhere.)
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To: tacticalogic

You’re right. Socialism is a primitive system and can only be moral when it is voluntary and temporary and takes place on a small scale (like the sharing of resources that takes place between family or church members).

See my post here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1935962/posts?page=17#17


18 posted on 12/07/2007 8:33:03 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Algore - there's not a more priggish, sanctimonious moral scold of a church lady anywhere.)
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To: Matchett-PI

If they’re going to compare how ants interact with how people interact, then the valid comparison is to see how one ant colony interacts with another, and that isn’t something you’d want people to emulate.


19 posted on 12/07/2007 9:04:08 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: linuxster

Proverbs 6:6-8

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

.

.

Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts


20 posted on 12/07/2007 4:06:17 PM PST by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
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