The Price of Progress. (20/11/04 )
		Tony was speaking with his grasshopper friend, Felix, one sunny afternoon, who told him what a housefly had whispered the day before. "The fly said that humans can talk to other humans far away by speaking only in a low voice, and that they can visit that big white rock in the night sky, and...". Tony drifted off in his thoughts, staring into a stream as it swirled and foamed. He had watched the humans for hours when they visited the swimming hole, frollicking and shouting as they splashed in the clear water. They were carefree and never seemed to be all that busy or worried about gathering food. "Felix," Tony interupted. "Why can the humans do all of these wonderful things yet we cannot?" "Because you are only an ant, and I am only a grasshopper," was his answer. But Tony had a plan. Over the next few months, Tony visited a lot of neighbouring colonies and gave many speeches. He always received great applause, and word soon spread about the Great Ant who dreamed of a better way. Tony gave each colony several specific tasks, and in half a year they were to meet in the Big Field and reveal their discoveries. The ants that remained in those colonies during the meeting would have to work twice as hard, but in the end life would be much easier for them all. Six months later, the Big Field was filled with an enormous amount of ants reporting from hundreds of colonies. Tony was situated in front of them with a panel of scribes; as each group of ants came forward with their findings, the scribes recorded the information. Four days later, Tony had what he needed and asked everyone to return to their respective colonies. He told them they would be visited during the coming weeks, and the massive crowd buzzed with anticipation of the new life they would soon make for themselves. They cheered passionately and slowly dispersed, some glancing back at the historical field as it faded from sight. With appointed engineers and scientists, Tony visited the colonies with secrets from the human world. He showed them how to make steel, extract combustible fuels, and harness the power of electricity. They were taught about structural support systems, agriculture, and even an intricate currency for trade. Soon, billions of ants were following Tony's wishes, and the results of their work came quickly. The grasshopper came to visit Tony one afternoon. Tony was going over blueprints with a supervisor, but was glad to see his old friend again and took him aside to chat. Felix seemed worried, and Tony asked him what was bothering him. "The other insects and animals have been talking, Tony. While it's true the humans have created some amazing things, they think only about today. They don't worry about the future of their species... yet this, good friend, is our sole purpose in life." Felix paused and looked at the puffy clouds passing overhead. "We have to make sacrifices in our lives for the sake of our children. All the animals know this, Tony, and so do you." Tony thought Felix was merely jealous, and bid him farewell after some unrelated small-talk. Two years later, the ants were completely self-sufficient. Surface and underground factories refined larger amounts of food and ore using assembly-line tactics to meet the growing demands of The Colony, the new name for the collection of many colonies scattered over the plain. Vendors operated shops, and trade-ants repaired the machines that made the products that filled the shops. Synthetic light allowed them to not only work at night, but also enjoy the many forms of entertainment that had soon followed the success of industry. Even the ants that still worked hard all day had many new ways to relax when it was over. Towns became cities, and transportation networks linked shipping routes and public grids. Each level of hierarchy had presidents and chair-ants, which were governed by a body of elder ants that rejected or approved the new ideas presented by the many sectors. Life was good, morale was high, and the ants soon had all they had ever dreamed of; and the things they didn't have could be attained by simply working harder. Tony declined a position in government and instead decided to manage a beach on the outskirts of The Colony. The white sand had been imported from far away to the south during a campaign seeking out unreached colonies. He had returned with good news that The Colony was spreading rapidly. The ants didn't interfere with the routine lives of other animals much. They had passed a controversial bill to farm selected larvae from other "less important" insects, a necessary means of feeding The Colony. There were confrontations with distant mounds over land rights, but the ants just bought their "enemies" off with technological gifts. On rare occasions this didn't work, they used force. But that was a last resort.
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