When pavement ants (the little reddish brown ants you see in sidewalk cracks) have intra-species war they use the concept of a one-to-one correspondence to determine who has a larger army.
Ants pair off locking jaws with another ant of similar size.
Any leftover ants from the larger colony will gang up two on one against the other colony.
Then based on things only ants know either they all go home OR one colony overwhelms the other.
But most of the time only a few ants die.
The ants can't just tell each other the size of their armies, also even if they could the enemy might lie!
So they all pair off holding each other's mandibles and beating the other ant on the head with her antennae.
If there are only a few unpaired ants that means war would be a bad idea and so they just skip it.
Remarkable. The ants in their combat behaviour actively realise set-theoretical counting principles, and by doing that, they realise a strategy that is mutually advantageous for both colonies and thus beneficial for the species. Brilliant & enchanting.
I was gloomy a moment ago, but having seen your post I am all cheered up! :-) Whatever else happens, something is deeply right with the world if deep mathematical structures emerge from ant behaviour!
Your beautiful account is the most Mastodonian of all Mastodon accounts. Tooting for enlightenment and joy. Thank you.
#ants #GeorgCantor #RichardDedekind #SunTzu #strategy #TetramoriumImmigrans
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