Insect karma

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Aemilius
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:44 am

Re: Insect karma

Post by Aemilius »

I have been reading a book about Ants by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson. The authors say that ants and some other species of insects have evolved a higher level of social organisation that is called Eusociality. They are superior compared to the ordinary individualistic species of insects. Thus it appears that maybe ants are accumating lot of good karma?

wikipedia: "Eusociality (from Greek εὖ eu "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society which are sometimes called castes. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform at least one behavior characteristic of individuals in another caste.

"Eusociality exists in certain insects, crustaceans and mammals. It is mostly observed and studied in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and in termites. A colony has caste differences: Queens and reproductive males take the roles of the sole reproducers, while soldiers and workers work together to create a living situation favorable for the brood. In addition to Hymenoptera and Isoptera, there are two known eusocial vertebrates among rodents: the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat. Some shrimps, such as Synalpheus regalis, are also eusocial. E. O. Wilson and others[1][2] have claimed that humans have evolved a weak form of eusociality (e.g., with menopause), but these arguments have been disputed.[3]"

Bert Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson: https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachme ... 9b77e0.pdf
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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