#I think people hate wasps because they remind us that insects are not insignificant.

[msexcelfractal]

I used to believe that bugs were little robots. Lots of people do, it’s the prevailing opinion next to “i’ve never thought about it”. Then I watched a mother wasp mourn her child. An animal who stretched after a nap and did little dances when her daughters returned from flight. Now she is opening her fourth capped hexagon and finding a pale white stillborn. She grasps the baby gently in her jaws and does not put it down for over 24 hours. Carries her loss, pacing back and forth the length of her enclosure. It is not the behavior of a robot.

So I think about the prior odds. Scenario A, bugs are robots. Why do I believe that? Because they are so tiny. Because if they are not robots then my world [where “insect exterminator” is a job title and I can buy a can of mass death at home depot] does not make sense. They must be insignificant.

The wasp makes me reconsider. Scenario B: her kind are like mine. cry when we are sad and happy when we play. Has this feature evolved many times? Or is it common to all the children of the precambrian worm? Every shark in the ocean swimming in their own feelings. Every bird and every cat knowing the thrill of being alive? The wasp made me realize that my whole moral picture is wrong. We’re not alone on this planet,

#the prevailing thepry is bee dances communicate info #i dont think thats all #they dance because they are happy to see each other #the info is communicated by antennae tapping #I think people hate wasps because they remind us that insects are not insignificant. #If I disrespect her I can be stung - she is no longer insignificant. #bug #interesting: tunicates are closer to human ancestry than arthropods. adult tunicates have secondarily lost concsness - baby tuni r lil worms #I love wasps. I love the caterpillars who are eaten by the wasps. I no longer see a contradiction. #(The contradiction is industrial humanity terraforming six continents in 400 years) #the contradiction is 100 billion living minds in cages #the problem (when humans treat humans like animals) is that humans treat animals like dirt to step on #5AM