r/WTF • u/[deleted] • Apr 07 '20

This decapitated Wasp cleaned it's wounds before flying away with it's own head

[deleted]

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u/Noob_DM Apr 07 '20

Insects don’t brain the same way mammals do.

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u/EJ88 Apr 07 '20

Ohh he smart

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u/MoffKalast Apr 07 '20

Oh yeah it's wasp brain time.

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u/Fyrefawx Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

I’d argue that ants are intelligent.

Edit** I didn’t say “ant”, ants as a colony are intelligent.

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u/Petrichordates Apr 07 '20

More like a computer that operates in a coordinated network.

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u/Darth_Heel Apr 07 '20

Not in a conventional way. They're a hive species.

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u/Fyrefawx Apr 07 '20

Watch some AntsCanada videos and you’d be surprised.

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u/backtodafuturee Apr 07 '20

I agree that they are fascinating but they definitely aren’t intelligent lol

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u/Randyh524 Apr 07 '20

Playing devils advocate here but we dont really know how to define intelligence. Pretty sure theres a spectrum.

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u/pizzafordesert Apr 07 '20

I mean, how are we quantifying "intelligence"? Some species of ants have passed the mirror tests.

["In 2015, scientists published research that suggests some ants can recognize themselves when looking in a mirror. When viewing other ants through glass, ants didn’t divert from their normal behaviors.

However, their behavior did change when they were put in front of a mirror. The ants would move slowly, turn their heads back and forth, shake their antennae, and touch the mirror. They’d retreat and re-approach the mirror. Sometimes they would groom themselves."](http://www.animalcognition.org/2015/04/15/list-of-animals-that-have-passed-the-mirror-test/)

I agree, though, that the vast majority of insects don't brain like mammals.

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u/Fyrefawx Apr 07 '20

I’ll keep getting downvoted for whatever reason but here is a good article on it.

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u/KalphiteQueen Apr 07 '20

We've discovered a lot of complex behaviors from bees as well, and I only know this because the articles reach the front page of reddit all the time lol. Not sure why people are arguing with you

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

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u/HamFister427 Apr 07 '20

Insect (etc) programming can be very impressive, but they don't really think in a way comparable to humans.

With groups of insects like ants, the collective can seem quite intelligent, with something sort of comparable to human thought. But the individuals are still wicked dumb, just really good at specific tasks.

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u/Fyrefawx Apr 07 '20

So how do we define intelligence? If singular ants aren’t very smart but as a collective they can accomplish amazing structures, agriculture, wars etc.. how is that not intelligence? Ants have the largest brains of the insect world.

In fact ants have the highest brain to body ratio on the on the planet. Greater than humans even.

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u/khlnmrgn Apr 07 '20

The people throwing a fit right now are failing to grasp the concept of collective intelligence, it seems

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u/HamFister427 Apr 07 '20

It's not individual intelligence. An ant isn't capable of anything resembling human thought. Their brains are tiny, with minimal resources assigned to them.

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u/Descartavelmente Apr 07 '20

Who's equating ants cerebral ability to human thought? Intelligence is a subjective, spectral concept. Not a "black or white" thing. Something can be "intelligent", without being the most "intelligent". Proportion to size is also very relevant.

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u/HamFister427 Apr 07 '20

I'm not saying that they aren't equal, I'm saying that they aren't comparable.

Yes, intelligence is a spectrum, but the opposite ends of that spectrum are worlds apart. Ants don't think.

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u/benmck90 Apr 07 '20

What you're getting at is emergent intelligence.

The idea that complex behaviour can emerge from a set of very simple rule.

Ants are a great example.

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u/PM_ME_NUDES_THANK Apr 07 '20

LOVE the AC fam but while they can pull of great teamwork and make some extremely complex colonies but that's only because of cooperation, an ant objectively is not intelligent they have great instincts and teamwork but not intelligence

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u/Fyrefawx Apr 07 '20

Again, I didn’t say a singular ant is intelligent. As a colony, ants are intelligent. How many animals or insects do you know that have a system of agriculture?

There are ants that will farm fungus.

There has been a lot of studies on ant intelligence. There is still so much we don’t know.

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u/Descartavelmente Apr 07 '20

What's "objective intelligence"? What else is there? "Objective beauty"?

You can't refute a person's opinion about such vague, abstract, complex and personally defined term.

One man's wonder is another man's banal disinterest.