The evolution of expendability: Why some ants traded armor for numbers

Ants with lots of workers tend to put less energy into making them armored.

See full article...

 

[JoHBE]

I wonder just HOW dumb humans will get once we completely outsource thinking to AI. Eventually, only the autonomous nervous system might persist...

 

[JoHBE]

Capitalism really is well aligned with nature and biology--no sarcasm tags required.

We should, of course, always beware of the Naturalistic Fallacy. Just because something is "natural" (or "well aligned with Nature and Biology") does not necessarily mean it is good, or that we should wholeheartedly support it.

There's probably an "Inverse Naturalistic Fallacy" too--just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it's bad, either. ("We must overcome our sinful natures to achieve salvation!")

The is/ought problem.

I used to frequent a forum focussed on evolution vs religion 2 decades ago (I believe it still exists!) . Lots of interesting discussion, because it was strictly moderated. One of the most insightful posts that I still remember, was someone pointing out that the theory of Evolution was DEscriptive, not PREscriptive. That captured the essence of why quite a few well-meaning religious people could be so passionately opposed. If you grow up guided by a text that tells you in absolute terms how things SHOULD be (PREscriptive), you tend to view anything that challenges or contradicts it, from that same perspective. Not just a bunch of (DEscriptive) neutral objective observations and facts, but as a competing moral guideline.

 

[JoHBE]

Meta parasitical creatures come to mind, eh?

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-one-parasitic-wasp-becomes-victim-another-parasitic-wasp

That's like an early adopter crypto-bro (being lured into) investing in Open AI right now?