Dr. Edward O. Wilson, Who Saw the World Through the Selfless Ants, Part 2 of 2

During an interview, Dr. Wilson explained the relevance of evolved insect behaviors to human nature. “And ants have clearly advanced to that level because they come from groups of insects that tend to form groups anyway; they’re in societies. And at first, the stages were very primitive, but then as the groups competed with other groups, the form of the cooperation became more intense, and more varied, and complicated, and ants developed true altruism, in which individual ant workers sacrificed themselves as needed just to protect the colony.”

In precious footage recorded by Supreme Master Ching Hai, She spoke about the ants’ strong relationships and their loyal qualities. “The ants seem to have such a strong comrade-like relationship or bond. They carry the dead home wherever they find them. Like this one is trying so hard to even climb the wall to bring his friend back after trying to revive him without success.” “I also saw one small ant circling around his dead friend’s body seven times, as if paying the last homage ritual. It was so touching to see, and I can’t help crying. Such a tiny community and so respectful, so loyal to each other that might make humans wonder about their qualities, and perhaps wishing that we can also practice such virtues.”

In 2002, E.O. Wilson examined the fragile situation of our environment in the book “The Future of Life.” “Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands.”

“The living world, the biosphere, is a razor thin layer of organisms that have evolved over billions of years to create close to exactly the right combination of species and interaction to maintain the conditions that they live in. And so, we should keep in mind that when we destroy the living world by allowing species to go extinct, you’re weakening the biosphere. And eventually, we may reach a tipping point in which the whole thing starts to unravel, and when that happens, the end of everything.”

At the 2015 National Book Festival, Professor Wilson talked about climate change and mentioned the benefits of choosing a plant-based diet to help the planet.