the Parable Of The Ants

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Two were pulling towards the nest.

Three to the right.

Three to the left.

One directly away from the nest.

The tenth was on top and appeared to be trying to pull straight up.

Wiki is a bit like that, I thought.

But the remarkable thing about those ants is that they were succeeding. And the even more remarkable thing is that eight out of the ten ants were essential to the project.

The one pulling the worm away from the nest, they'd have been better off without. Squash it and the project time would be reduced by half.

The one on top was irrelevant. It was perhaps adding some insignificant overhead by forcing the others to carry a little extra weight.

But the other eight were all essential. Take away either of the two pulling in the right direction and the project goes nowhere. Take away any one of the six at the sides and the worm continues to move, but not towards the nest.

So don't drop your bundle, even and especially if someone else suggests you may be pulling sideways. It may be very important that you do pull, particularly if, as often happens, there are others on the other side of the worm.

And maybe even, from time to time, it's good to ask: Which ant am I?

• Ant colony optimization algorithms