Parasitic Mind Control

Before the mechanism at play was understood, the suicidal behavior of ants such as the ones in this video posed a grave challenge to evolutionary theory: how could seemingly suicidal organisms have possibly been selected by the process of natural selection?

The solution to this problem proved itself both elegantly consistent with evolutionary theory and disturbingly frightening in its implications, especially as these relate to human behavior.

Click here to see how proponents of meme theory, such as philosopher Daniel Dennett, have used just this case to support the idea of the memetic evolution of culture.

And check out other fascinating cases of mind control, mimicry and deception in the natural world here, here and here.

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