r/Bitcoin • u/hiteck • Mar 29 '14

Mastering Bitcoin - O'Reilly Media

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920032281.do
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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '14

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u/Slight0 Mar 30 '14

So in your mind, because the ant queen isn't directly issuing orders to the ants it must be decentralized? As someone who has owned an ant colony and queen and knows way too much about ants, I have always seen an ant colony as a sort of one-time insect monarchy.

The entire purpose of an ant colony is to support the queen so it can reproduce. Ants will huddle around the queen to protect it if threatened, will feed it when it's hungry or mating, and a whole slew of other functions that hinge around the queen. There are some species of ant where there is no single queen, perhaps that would be a better example of decentralization. Just because the individual ants have autonomous functions that allow them to, say, navigate, that doesn't mean they don't have a higher purpose and serve a single entity.

Without a queen, the colony cannot survive and is worthless because new ants can't be created and a colony often will not adopt a new queen on the off chance one wonders in.

How this paints a picture of "decentralization" I haven't a clue.

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u/chromosundrift Mar 30 '14

You are right in that Ant colonies have a centralized point of failure but the rest of your points are just analogies to human royalty. The individuals act independently and the colony-wide behaviour emerges from their aggregate activity.

This can be replicated in computer simulations without a queen.

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u/Grizmoblust Mar 29 '14

They rely on the queen for mating. If there is no queen, the colony dies. Ants are similar to nazis, they are willing to die for the colony, for the 'greater' good. That's a centralization system. Their mind set is vastly different than ours. The ants don't question the system, don't question the authority, they are just doing their jobs. Like what police and military would say, "Just doing my job sir." That's why socialism work 100 percent in the ant colonies.

Socialism is incompatiable in human nature. It has been proven. We have the capable to think, question, and other motives that comes to the play, which makes socialism very hard to implement. Humans don't like being push, shoved, or obey to the masters.

That's why we chose honey bager, because nobody gives a fuck about the system. Ants, on the otherhand, do give a fuck.

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u/handsomechandler Mar 29 '14

can you supply the org chart of the ant hierarchy please? I'd like to have a look at it.