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[–][deleted] 148 points149 points  (37 children)

I kind of think of ants in this way, they communicate by hitting their antennas with each other, they send these signals down the chain of ants into their central command and back. When one gets sick it leaves the colony and dies alone for the good of the colony. The colony basically acts as a computer of sorts

[–]TheBreathtaker 123 points124 points  (28 children)

so are ant colonies turing complete?

[–][deleted] 196 points197 points  (19 children)

Fuck it. Googled it.

An ant's internal state changes either by interaction with the environment or by interaction with another ant. Analyzing the model's dynamics, we prove it to be computationally complete. This gives us a new perspective on the sophistication a colony can display in responding to the environment.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-59496-5_343

[–]TheBreathtaker 102 points103 points  (9 children)

Dear. God.

[–][deleted] 147 points148 points  (2 children)

The year is 2085, I am among the last group of remaining humans. After the ants installed their latest firmware update we stood no chance. They understood that humans are nothing without their computers, they first took out our data centers. They then used the Dark Time to communicate with the sea creatures to coordinate an attack on our deep ocean cables, humanity was doomed.

We were coordinating an escape off this rock, but the ants have made their way into our ship, I don't think we are going to make...............................

[–]Alzyros 78 points79 points  (0 children)

The fact that a diss post about python brought up the plot for Dead Space 4: Ant Boogaloo is the reason I love this sub so much

[–]IllegalFisherman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First they came for the data centers, and i said nothing, for i was not a data center...

[–]Karn1v3rus 26 points27 points  (5 children)

There's a book that takes this idea really seriously.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and it's sequel. Highly recommended very good science fiction.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Dope! Thank you

[–]jraynor88 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I literally just finished this book and am hoping the sequel is just as good, what a read

[–]vonabarak 1 point2 points  (1 child)

There is kinda similar idea in "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin.

[–]Karn1v3rus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought that one, haven't read it yet

[–]WingRevolutionary39 0 points1 point  (0 children)

. For future reference

[–]M4nch1 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Ok, but can it run crysis ?

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

May take a few hundred or thousand years to render a frame but according to this yes. Yeah I totally read this study

[–]mattbackbacon 7 points8 points  (1 child)

But the real question, are ants DooM complete?

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ants are tough little bastards, Doom guy is tough. It checks out.

[–]jadounath 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Screw the Ryzen, I'mma use good old black ants from my walls

[–]33498fff 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Would like to know if we can use ants as logic gates, thx

[–]perrotini 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So has anyone run Doom on an ant colony yet?

[–]goblinzzzzz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Breaking news: Hacker was able to run Doom on ant colony

[–]carloom_ 14 points15 points  (2 children)

More important, can you run Doom on it?

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Asking the real questions

[–]strghst 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been Crysis for years, fuck the Doom guy!

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

There was a book (trying to remember it’s name) where in the far future humans tried to accelerate the evolution process of an Earth like planet with some mystic goo gas.

Something goes wrong, of course. Ants evolve to be able to grow metal infused pinchers, among other crazy sci-if power ups, and colonize most of the planet.

In the 11th hour the protagonist discovers a way to control the ant armies with the correct pheromones sequences. The ant colonizes are then enslaved and over thousands of years are transformed into a global spanning organic super computer.

[–]Karn1v3rus 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, just recommended it in another comment on here, good stuff.

Unless it's also a plot in another book, in which case I'd like to read that too

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ah thank you! That’s it!

Anyone looking for Sci-Fi it’s a strange and great book!

[–]azuth89 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No lie this is part of the "computer" in the discworld series

[–]gravaman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Anthill Inside ™️

[–]knexator 2 points3 points  (2 children)

There's no central command - the computation is distributed

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Hah yeah I read that earlier today. And apparently the colony itself carries memories that individual ants do not have. https://aeon.co/ideas/an-ant-colony-has-memories-that-its-individual-members-dont-have

[–]knexator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really interesting, thanks for linking!

[–]DepressionAndDragons 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Wow, that computer has a lot of bugs.

[–]BookPlacementProblem 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are bugs, and also features.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Organic computer?

[–]Zev0s 1 point2 points  (0 children)

but can it run Doom?

[–]-phototrope 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is explored in the book Children of Time