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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Kasey Anderson<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, January 08, 2012 11:00 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] super soldier ants<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>Well, you know, as long as it's an ant-eat-slug world, sounds like a great idea. ;) But you know, you get the same problem as with the pesticides. At least <i>one</i> of the slugs will survive due to some mutation, and by surviving it will pass its genes on to the next generation of slugs. Super ants? Great. Super slugs? Ewww. :D<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Ewwww,? Kasey, why do you ewww? It’s perfect! The real problem isn’t the bugs evolving around the countermeasures. The real problems are the buildup of bad stuff in the topsoil and the cost of applying it. This solves the heck outta both those problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Beasts cannot necessarily evolve their way around every countermeasure. This might be a good example of one they couldn’t really evolve around, reasoning: there is a functional cost to having a goo layer on the skin: slugs must absorb oxygen through that. Since that factor would necessarily limit their metabolism, they tend to be slow and methodical about everything. Thus the term sluggish. Or if you are a fan of ancient writings, consider Proverbs 6 verse 6: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Kasey, is that cool or what? We can go to the ant and modify her ways to devour the slug, for which we get the term for a lazy person, the sluggard. Of course, the bible was copied by hand repeatedly and mistakes might have been made. For instance, the proverb might have been written from the point of view of the slug, and it was originally: “Goo to the ant, thou slug guard…” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>But I digress. Ohhh, this is wicked cool.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So the slug has a protective goo layer, which limits his ability to absorb oxygen and necessarily limits his metabolism, but the ant does not, so she runs around and works like an ant, while the slug just leaves a revolting slime trail and moves about in a sluggish manner, while writing proverbs. I theorize that the slug cannot evolve a slime layer thick enough to outreach the super ant’s powerful mandibles, for that layer thickness is limited by the necessity to pass oxygen in and carbon dioxide out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regarding my alternatives, I do know that copper can build up in topsoil if you don’t have the right kinds of crops to draw it back out of there (we don’t) and it is expensive. So if I can fight slugs with ants, that would please me greatly. If I can avoid the cost of hiring more guys to spread anti-slug pesticides, that would please me even more, and the salmon people would be pleased as well. If I can displace or chase off the other beasts along with the slugs, that is better still.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Note to Kasey: you seem sane and smart, so I switched off your moderation flag. Post freely, me lass, and welcome! Do feel free to tell us about Kasey. Is it OK for me to mention your highly esteemed ExI-chat relative? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>