See, I remember seing this experiment done with a wasp (not a bee, could be very different) on a nature progrm as a kid. The particular kind of wasp would dig a burrow, lay eggs in it, go paralyze a grasshopper with its stinger, drag the grasshopper to the outside of the nest (a few inches away), go inside to make sure the eggs were there and everything was as it left it, go back out to get the grasshopper and drag it in for the little ones to eat when they hatch.
So they find a wasp that has built the nest, laid the eggs and found the grasshopper. It goes inside to check things out and they drag the grasshopper about a foot from where the wasp left it. The wasp emerges, looks around, sees the grasshopper but doesnât identify it as the grasshopper it already stung, so it stings the grasshopper, drags it back to the entrance of the burrow and goes inside to check on the eggs.
They repeated the process 47 times.
So if that wasp was conscious it has an obsessive disorder.
But yes, bees are social animals, and I think being social is probably the key to being conscious (and to being smart, really).
Supposedly, at least according to something I read in the Britannica, if you get yourself a dragonfly, and arrange its body so that its tail end is in reach of its mouth, it will start devouring itself.
I like praying mantises. Even the tiny ones have completely outsized titanium ballz, especially the females. I tried to move one about an inch long away from a large garden spider web, but she wasnât having any of it. Whenever I got close with a fingertip, she would threaten me with her itty-bitty forelegs.
This does not bode well if we ever find one bigger than a small dog, although I would totally root for it vs. the giant bird-eating centipede.
I think itâs very hard to go from behaviour to implied conscious thought - Iâm not convinced consciousness is necessary for a lot of things that people seem to think it is. Still, I the blowing bubbles bit makes me think theyâve got something going on in there thatâs looking for fun or trying to keep itself interested.
I think being social is probably a big game in getting smart and developing consciousness because itâs kind of like playing chess against opponents of equal skill vs. playing against yourself. Being social means you need to constantly exercise your ability to identify yourself and your interests vs. others and their interests. But thatâs just a pet theory.
Still, manta rays arenât totally non-social. Itâs not like the females lay eggs in the sand and the males come and fertilize them while the females are away, allowing the mantas to never meet another manta in their lives.
Paper wasps can recognize other individuals by their face markings, and all the wasps in a nest cooperate to raise the young of the dominant one, but they are all individuals jockeying for that position. Itâs not chosen by genetic or developmental determinism.
So now itâs more that youâre getting the bee out of focus on moving nectar and achieving full seasonal honey racks? Or you liked the story on spacefaring bugs from Starship Sofa (using its gullet as a wallet, etc.) some time last year and the independence they sought?
