[General] Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment.

[t.javanshir]

Dear friends,
I came across this paragraph in an IELTS book. I was wondering what the meaning of the sentence "ants are so much ... embarrassment" is.

Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.'


Thanks in advance

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

I would say it suggests that human beings believing themselves hugely superior to ants (as many people do) is embarrassing. The human species tends to think of itself as the only one capable of such complicated behaviour. They might go so far as to say such behaviour is limited to humans. Clearly, it's not. That such a tiny, seemingly insignificant animal as an ant could demonstrate such behaviours is almost embarrassing to the people who feel that humans are vastly superior.

Remember to end every sentence with a punctuation mark on the forum - you forgot one after "Thanks in advance".

 

[t.javanshir]

Dear emsr2d2,

Thank you very much indeed.

So you mean they behave so much like humans do in so many ways, which is disturbing, degrading for the human race, and kind of awkward. The author seems to mean that humans are not that different from ants!

I'll also bear the point about punctuation in mind.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree that the suggestion is that ants are not all that different from humans. However, instead of suggesting that that brings humans down to the level of ants, I would say it elevates ants closer to the level of humans. The embarrassing thing is that humans [wrongly] think they're so much better/cleverer than ants.

 

[t.javanshir]

Thank you emsr2d2.

 

[Skrej]

I think another interpretation is that the actions of the ants was a disturbing reflection of some of the more shameful actions of humans - war, child labor, and chemical abuse. The only thing they don't do we do is the questionable act of watching television.