Well, I’m inclined to call a termite mound an artificial construct created by termites, and a beehive an artificial construct created by bees. If an ant colony is an intelligence (which I’m not as confident of as you sound), it seems no more problematic to call it an artificial intelligence created by ants.
i think there’s a relevant sense of natural vs artificial by which Esperanto is artificial but English is natural: the latter arose from the interaction of a large number of parts each ‘thinking’ locally, without an intelligently designed plan for the whole. (Our hosts don’t like the E word but it seems warranted here.)
I dunno about termite mounds or beehives, but humanity doesn’t sound artificial to me in that sense.
Sure, in that sense of the word I agree. I’d say termite mounds and beehives are natural in that sense, as well. So is the pattern of graffiti on New York buildings.
Well, I’m inclined to call a termite mound an artificial construct created by termites, and a beehive an artificial construct created by bees. If an ant colony is an intelligence (which I’m not as confident of as you sound), it seems no more problematic to call it an artificial intelligence created by ants.
Well...
i think there’s a relevant sense of natural vs artificial by which Esperanto is artificial but English is natural: the latter arose from the interaction of a large number of parts each ‘thinking’ locally, without an intelligently designed plan for the whole. (Our hosts don’t like the E word but it seems warranted here.)
I dunno about termite mounds or beehives, but humanity doesn’t sound artificial to me in that sense.
Sure, in that sense of the word I agree. I’d say termite mounds and beehives are natural in that sense, as well. So is the pattern of graffiti on New York buildings.