Bees

[R_P_A_S]

what would you guys say about the whole structure of a Bee colony? I mean you got 'workers', drones and the "queen".. it seems that the moment bees are born they know what their sole purpose is.. do they chose this? is it just natural? same applies to Ants..right? why are do this insects live like this?

this might sound silly.. but umm. why don't the worker bees over throw their queen? LOL.

do you feel that ultra conservatives use this natural instincts of bees as an other excuse for classism?

besides Bees are insects they didn't tell us they have a queen, nor tha titles of the workers or the drones? who the fuck decided to make em out to be a monarchy?

[Sentinel]

There's an old thread about this, in the popular topics of discussion-sticky. Link (http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=58043)

Anyways, monarchy isn't the word I'd use for bee and ant societies. The 'queens' don't rule the hives, but perform their function: laying the eggs. Every type of bee (drones, workers, queens) have their function, are equally important for the hive to survive and thrive, and perform their duties in what would seem like a spirit of self-sacrifice -- were they advanced enough organism for such a high level of self-reflection.

It's debatable whether they are equal or communalistic in one sense though; like LSD informs us in the other thread, bees and ants aren't actually communalistic but rather eusocial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality); the queen is the only female with the possibility to reproduce, due to a special diet during early development.

On the other hand, bee and ant workers are more related to their sisters (75%) than they would be to their potential offspring were they to reproduce (50%), which may provide some kind of explanation to their loyalty -- they carry on more of their own genes that way.

[Lynx]

A social 'structure' implies that individuals play 'roles' that can be differentiated. Science fiction likes to portray the concept of the 'hive mind' or collective.

[MarxSchmarx]

On the other hand, bee and ant workers are more related to their sisters (75%) than they would be to their potential offspring were they to reproduce (50%), which may provide some kind of explanation to their loyalty -- they carry on more of their own genes that way.

What you're describing is a variant of Kin Selection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_selection) and it is considered the main explanation for the evolution of altruism and eusociality in the hymenoptera (bees, ants, etc...).

IMHO their colonies don't serve as particularly inspiring models for human liberation.