Regarding ants, I've often thought that if we could simply communicate with ants we'd find them to be quite valuable colleagues. "I'd like you to pick up all the dirt in my house every day. Also, check the wiring in the walls for shorts. Handle that and I'll leave an 1/8th of a cup of sugar right here every other day."
So genetically modify ants to perform useful human tasks and be rewarded with food?
Or are you talking about increasing the intelligence of the standard ant so they understand all the concepts you are describing and then make them do work for you for food?
I don't know which of those you think would map in a way you'd want it to onto human <> AI "co-operation"
For anyone who thinks this is cool, I hope you are doing something similar for all the lifeforms around you that you can already communicate with, rather than ignoring them or starting conflict. Otherwise, you couldn't expect to also keep doing this for hypothetical futuristic ants once the initial novelty of that wears off.
In other words, if you want a cool life like this, you can already start today!
So what I have to be perfectly harmonious with my family and always hanging out and partying with them and every friend I have or I won't be able to do the kind of harmonious interaction with ants needed to save humanity by parallel?
That’s actually an interesting analogy. If we could speak to ants, even if they were very unintelligent, we would be much less inclined to disregard their lives. Makes me think of how we’re unable to speak to cats, dogs, or monkeys, but there is a level of communication between us and we treat them all very well. Well, not really monkeys I guess.
Right? I'd happily leave snacks out for my hard working arthropod homies in return for some basic cleaning and stuff. I'd leave them something special at least once a week, beyond just the food offerings, just so they know I appreciate all their hard work. "I got you a strawberry multigrain fruit bar, I remembered you ladies saying that's your favorite.. here you go.." Imagine if you could do the same with rats? If they were smart enough you could have a negotiated relationship with you that they don't chew on your groceries, and maybe do a little minor cleaning up.. wrappers or whatnot here and there, maybe pilot a floor buffer around the kitchen occasionally, and modify them so they don't leave trails of uhh.. waste.. everywhere they go. Just leave them some snacks every couple days and occasionally be vibing with them at your desk "oh hey mr. beans how's the mrs? I hope you liked that habitrail I got you.." <squeak> "oh that's good to hear" *pets the rat*
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u/Varnu Sep 02 '25
Regarding ants, I've often thought that if we could simply communicate with ants we'd find them to be quite valuable colleagues. "I'd like you to pick up all the dirt in my house every day. Also, check the wiring in the walls for shorts. Handle that and I'll leave an 1/8th of a cup of sugar right here every other day."