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From: jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos)
Newsgroups: net.bizarre
Subject: Re: Ants/Styrofoam
Message-ID: <1653@peora.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Sep-85 13:42:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: peora.1653
Posted: Wed Sep 18 13:42:46 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 26-Sep-85 07:11:55 EDT
References: <245@mot.UUCP>
Organization: Perkin-Elmer SDC, Orlando, Fl.
Lines: 33

> "O fond pismires, far better booteth it to partake of this proferred
> sweetmeat and eschew such utterly worthless victuals as ye had formerly;
> for in thy impetuous zeal thou hadst seized upon a wretched morsel.  With
> this boon there shall be joyous dancing in thine emmet halls and thy
> descendents shall wax fat unto the fifth generation."

I believe you.  The theoretical physicist, Richard P.  Feynman ("one of my
heroes, next to Esther Dyson, Kate Bush, and Porky Pine"*) did an
experiment with this, which he writes about in his memoirs, in which he
caused ants to go in a circle by carefully directing them around so that
they left the trail which other ants follow in a circular pattern.  He did
other interesting experiments on the curve-smoothing algorithm of ants,
which you may read about in his book.  I think the chapter in which this is
described is called "Testing Bloodhounds," if I am not mistaken.

Furthermore, I have read of an even more bizarre experiment, by someone I
can't remember, who "programmed" some other insect (maybe it was ants too...
I can't remember now, but I think maybe it was caterpillars) to go around
a flowerpot rim.  He reported that, once started in this way, they went on
and on nonstop around the flowerpot for more than a day, until he began to
feel compassionate and pointed them in a different direction, knowing that
otherwise they would soon starve from going around and around the flowerpot
rim endlessly like this.  (I wish I could remember where I read it.)

* This may not be my opinion, outside of net.bizarre.

PS - I am not Doug Alan.
-- 
Shyy-Anzr:  J. Eric Roskos
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