Post B2Bp113I2am4Z8Wp8a by Jestbill@mastodon.world
(DIR) More posts by Jestbill@mastodon.world
(DIR) Post #B2BcNzKNJs4KTR8xcG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T20:29:08Z
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I can't be "an ant pretending to be a person on the internet" I post about human stuff all the time and no one has made a computer interface suitable for ants yet. So it's impossible.
(DIR) Post #B2BcVKtXX1YBOG5y64 by bruce@darkmoon.social
2026-01-11T20:30:25Z
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@futurebird Seems like pinch-to-zoom would be a killer input move for ants.
(DIR) Post #B2BciLJzFzcITgfTDk by jollyorc@social.5f9.de
2026-01-11T20:32:45Z
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@futurebird why have an ant interface, when the whole computer can be ants? https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Hex
(DIR) Post #B2BciruG6fe1XRstCS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T20:32:47Z
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@bruce Oh very funny. You know some people have lost loved ones to pinching, right?
(DIR) Post #B2BcxP7XPicobY1iUK by mayintoronto@beige.party
2026-01-11T20:35:30Z
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@futurebird Nah, you're actually the embodiment of an entire colony of ants. No individual ant could reflect upon collectivist society as much as you do.
(DIR) Post #B2BdAw5Q9uS0bwUNAe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T20:37:58Z
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@mayintoronto No, this is silly ants are concerned with digging simple holes and being very nice creatures that help keep the forest clean. They don't want to use the internet to do anything so complex and frustrating. Just don't worry about it I think.
(DIR) Post #B2BdBuc77UFkKiFKSW by cjust@infosec.exchange
2026-01-11T20:38:00Z
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@futurebird that's all well and good, but do you suppose ants could ride Sea-Doos?
(DIR) Post #B2BdEGn9dJpphEXCwC by i_give_u_worms@beige.party
2026-01-11T20:38:31Z
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@futurebird nobody said you were just one ant
(DIR) Post #B2BdGIFVBbmcnLl6ye by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T20:38:56Z
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@cjust Who needs a sea-doo when you are the master of surface tension? And basically Jesus.
(DIR) Post #B2Bdgb9BXuqGw4Lb4S by cjust@infosec.exchange
2026-01-11T20:43:40Z
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@futurebird But if you ask me if I've heard crazier things than ants riding sea-doos...
(DIR) Post #B2BdwW7C1Uhrxi0RUm by mayintoronto@beige.party
2026-01-11T20:46:33Z
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@futurebird Oh. My. God. The internet's just a distraction created by the ant people to stop us from noticing that they've taken over our pantries?!?!!!
(DIR) Post #B2Bdz5WtK8joNSFi7s by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-11T20:47:01Z
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@futurebird The input side doesn't seem too bad in principle, but how would ant-friendly output work? Everything would have to be converted to chemical signals, wouldn't it?
(DIR) Post #B2Be5TO3XEy06jAFKi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T20:48:11Z
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@timtfj Some ants have pretty big eyes. But smells would be helpful, probably beyond human technological sophistication to make such a thing, though. So yet another reason why it's not possible.
(DIR) Post #B2Bg6rniRyfQ1WxVdA by gdinwiddie@mastodon.social
2026-01-11T21:10:48Z
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@futurebird An ant could get Archy, the typing cockroach, to enter the toots.
(DIR) Post #B2BhaIvAnS3KUJ30oC by realtegan@wandering.shop
2026-01-11T21:27:19Z
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@futurebird That's just what an ant posting on the internet would say.🤨
(DIR) Post #B2BhiBcHq4V69KyKlE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-11T21:28:48Z
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@realtegan no no no don't be silly. Ants don't know how to talk or make memes or anything like that. come on.
(DIR) Post #B2BhngLl04tWuorRq4 by mikkelricky@mastodon.social
2026-01-11T21:29:44Z
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@futurebird @timtfj The book Empire of the Ants (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Ants_(novel)) features a computer interface, Dr. Livingstone, which let's humans and ants engage in two-way communication. The book is, however, fiction, but I think it's well worth a read. My layman's interest in ants grew from reading that book as a teenager.
(DIR) Post #B2Bp113I2am4Z8Wp8a by Jestbill@mastodon.world
2026-01-11T22:50:35Z
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@futurebird @timtfj I dunno; with six legs and mandibles there could be a sort of braille output??
(DIR) Post #B2BydlUUjK6FBVny9Q by catselbow@fosstodon.org
2026-01-12T00:38:27Z
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@futurebird Talk to Hank Pym.[Diagram of Hank Pym's cybernetic helmet, which allows him to talk to ants]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/19/Ant-Man%27s_Helmet_from_Tales_to_Astonish_Vol_1_35_0001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200105083529
(DIR) Post #B2C7yInrU5K7sdjPhg by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-12T02:23:01Z
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@futurebird How well can they see? I did read a research paper years ago which determined that they could tell the difference between a triangle standing on its base and an inverted one, at least. (It was to do with their use of vision for navigation, IIRC.)
(DIR) Post #B2C8PJurSFB79Ot9f6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-12T02:27:56Z
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@timtfj It varies by species a great deal. Some of the ants that hunt alone have vision that can rival bees (though probably not as good as bees)Gigantiops destructor, most Myrmecia, Harpegnathos... but, then you have many army ants who are blind. Their eye are reduced to simple light detectors if present at all. They hunt in groups by touch. Myrmecia (common name "bull ants") will track a person walking by their nest, turning as you pass. I wonder what ants were used in that study?
(DIR) Post #B2C8bpg9BgUh8TyMSm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-12T02:30:08Z
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@timtfj I'm a little obsessed with this large eye'd ant: SantschiellaThere is very little information on how she might live. She doesn't have long legs, but still has big eyes like other hunting ants. What could it mean? https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/115236436610387584
(DIR) Post #B2CA8PZVNFT1fzxrEm by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-12T02:47:13Z
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@futurebird I don't kniw, but could theoretically find out—I took out a subscription to Nature one year, and it'll be somewhere in my pile of them . . .As I remember, they concluded that the ants seemed to remember navigation information as a sequence of visual "snapshots" at specific locations (I think they mentioned the ants periodically turning round to look back at a landmark they'd recently left). I found it fascinating.
(DIR) Post #B2CAnftpZXe2Bn9D3g by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-12T02:54:42Z
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@futurebird I ended up trying to count the eye elements. It looks as though there might be about 80 around the perimeter . . . And they might be able to interpolate between "pixels" by moving their heads, maybe?
(DIR) Post #B2CCULMDvH0SsxL0iG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-12T03:13:38Z
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@timtfj It might have been bull ants. They have been in a few good vision studies. I suspect that even ants with poor vision have a map of the area around their nest. You can startle an ant who is foraging (wandering) and she will turn and make an ant-line* for home.*it's like a "bee line" but with more wiggles. And really ants and bees are related. Why do we have the phrase "bee line" anyway?https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/228/2/JEB249499/365468/Coming-home-how-visually-navigating-ants-Myrmecia
(DIR) Post #B2CCjK8WkD2vRV4gqG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-12T03:16:21Z
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@timtfj Though I should also note that carpenter ants and some other ants that are often house pests will NOT do this. They will lead you away from their nest on a wild goose chase. You can only use them to find the nest if they don't detect that there is a large vertebrate around. This means not making vibrations and not letting them get a whiff of your CO2 breath. Carpenter ants will take you anywhere BUT their nest, as if they have a behavior to make tracking ineffective.
(DIR) Post #B2CGbUKPMrvYYF9Qbw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-12T03:59:46Z
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@timtfj It's not like I've ever followed a carpenter ant for two hours while she gave me a tour of the forest, my mom's house, the basement, the riverbank... and never hinted at where the nest was once. Who would follow an ant for that long. Especially after you suspected she was snickering at you.
(DIR) Post #B2CbOuhy4g6Bdl14LI by pewnack@aus.social
2026-01-12T07:52:41Z
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@futurebird @timtfj You need better surveillants.
(DIR) Post #B2CctdZvuacvReTKTo by afewbugs@social.coop
2026-01-12T08:09:30Z
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@futurebird I've never for a moment believed you were an ant posting on the internet. A single ant wouldn't be strong enough to push the keyboard keys and isn't smart enough to write posts.An ant colony posting on the internet, on the other hand...
(DIR) Post #B2DW1s3PTHIq8SCMgS by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-12T18:27:17Z
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@futurebird I've not properly looked at the paper yet (thanks!) but I looked in the OED and they think "beeline" refers to a bee that's finished foraging ("has collected a full load of nectar") and is going back to the hive. Their earliest quote is from 1820 . . .
(DIR) Post #B2FxAobQl5MR7GWLS4 by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-13T22:40:50Z
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@futurebird I definitely can't imagine anyone doing that, or that if they did, they'd grow up to love ants ;-)(The ones in my compost bin a couple of years ago were interesting. They had lots of pupae(?) on top of the latest layer of leaves, but immediately started moving them out of sight underneath when I took the lid off.
(DIR) Post #B2FyZJQXuCFrcXfsYa by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-13T22:52:46Z
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@Jestbill @futurebird Teaching them Braille certainly sounds like an interesting challenge, at least!
(DIR) Post #B2FyZKmuqVk7qD9G40 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-13T22:56:31Z
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@timtfj @Jestbill they'd just bite all of the dots off and use them to build some ant thing.
(DIR) Post #B2GGJqRrAF9qZk3tDM by utopiarte@tupambae.org
2026-01-14T02:06:04Z
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@futurebirdI'd say that too if I were an ant ..
(DIR) Post #B2GGJrJNxDyZFl6deK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-14T02:15:05Z
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@utopiarte But you could say it as a person too. Who could really say?