From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!utcsri!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!sdd.hp.com!hp-cv!ogicse!reed!orpheus Tue Jul 28 09:41:27 EDT 1992
Article 6457 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Honeybees (was Re: Cockroaches)
Message-ID: <1992Jul15.215717.310@reed.edu>
Date: 15 Jul 92 21:57:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Jul15.215717.310
References: <1992Jul14.031930.3423@mp.cs.niu.e <BILL.92Jul14220035@ca3.nsma.arizona.edu> <1992Jul15.052619.2782@memstvx1.memst.edu>
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR
Lines: 29


  Mark C. Langston, langston@memstvx1.memst.edu, suggests:
. It's hard to accept that such a nasty, ugly, dirty creature could be the
. most intelligent of insects, but, with the possible exception of the
. honeybee, it might well be.

  Honeybees are wonderful creatures. Honeybees can communicate the location
of a particular flower 14 miles away from the hive, although the most
recent explanation I have heard is that this is done by dancing. I am far 
more inclined to believe that it is chemical.

  I'm not sure I can communicate the location of a particular flower across
the street from me without pointing, much less that far away. Then again,
you're reading this now, I suppose. We can communicate too, I guess.

  There are many wonderful things about honeybees. For instance, they are
phenomenally productive and can thrive in collaboration with man. At least
honeybees of European origin can. Africanized honeybees, so-called killer
bees, are another matter. I guess the rest of the insect kingdom is another
matter. Honeybees are, all in all, our best insect allies.

  One curious thing though. European honeybees are less likely to sting a
beekeeper in proportion to the strength of the colony. I don't know whether
it is because a) there is not much honey and brood to protect, or b) each
worker bee weighs her possible productive contribution to the hive against
her need to die defending it.

  Theus (orpheus@reed.edu)
 


