Does an ant think?

What do you think when you look at this photo?

In this picture, the ant seems to take a breath, while his other friends seem busier.

Looking at this photo, I kinda remember about the world in which we are living. Or in any case, in my world as I perceive it in the routine part of my daily life. We are waking up in the morning, we take the transportation to reach the office, with a lot of our peers. In the morning, there is a stream of people in every directions, people walk, dodge, take the subway, take the car, constitute traffic jams and there an incessant flow of circulation. We pass each other very quickly, we don’t say “hi”, and we go to “earn a living”. And we don’t stop.

In this continuous flow of the morning, do we think more than an ant? By the way, about what did the ant think when it stopped? Does an ant think in general?

Few months back, I was asked the question: If you could live someone’s life during one day, who would you choose?

I then imagined being in the head of an ant during one day! About what does he think in the morning, when he goes to work? I don’t think he is thinking about his very urgent project to be delivered to customers, nor about the increase of wage at the end of the year. I don’t think he is thinking about the consequences of the climate change, nor about buying the latest iPhone in the market, nor about choosing the color of his jacket.

He may have other concerns in his daily life. Is he happy to go to work? Why does he go to work? And finally, does he even think about anything or about himself? Is he in autopilot mode or does he think about the community and is he dedicated at service for his anthill? I don’t know how he works in his mind, but I find it is fascinating that an ant can find a place in his community so easily. What happens during his birth? Does he have the freedom to choose his job or is he assigned to his duty to contribute to the anthill?

At a macroscopic level, I am fascinated by the ant society – at least at an anthill scale – as it works so harmoniously. I don’t have the impression that there are internal wars, racism, unemployment concerns, jealousy. Each ant – worker, male, queen – works for the wellness of its community (until losing itself?). They are a little bit like the cells of a human body, working towards the equilibrium of a whole.

Are they really happy and conscious of what they are doing? les Fourmis The fact remains that there is a lot to learn from them. Them, who walk on the Earth since more than 120 millions of years!

The featured photo has been taken in Australia, where I have been astonished by the green color of the ant. The below photo comes from Costa Rica, where I have been fascinated by how the ant could lift such a big piece of leaf.