ants and termites alone constetute about 33% of the total terestrial biomass of the planet
That's not quite what your source said. Here is what your source said:
"Ants are arguably the greatest success story in the history of
terrestrial metazoa. On average, ants monopolize 15-20% of the
terrestrial animal biomass, and in tropical regions where ants are
especially abundant, they monopolize 25% or more."
"According to Hölldobler and Wilson (1990), up to 1/3 (33% ) of the
terrestrial animal biomass (NOTE: not including aquatic animal, or
terrestrial and aquatic flowering plants and microorganisms) was made
up of ants and termites. A study made in Finland produced a
terrestrial animal biomass of ants alone of 10%. In the Brazilian
rain forest the biomass of ants exceeds that of terrestrial
vertebrates by four times! Thus a figure for ants of 15% of all
terrestrial animal biomass is not out of line. I would doubt that they
are 15% of all living things because plants and microorganisms make up
a large part of the earth's biomass and the biomass of marine
organisms (none of which are ants) is usually not included in such
calculations.
You took out the word
animal out of
terrestial animal biomass, and the actual studies of specific ecosystems turned up lower numbers than 33%.
termites have clearly accomplished much more for themselves and this is reflected not only through their amazing nests (which by comparison can be much taller than newyork skyscrapers and often cover areas of over 24000 square feet),
Again, you seem to be misrepresenting your source. Your source said:
In addition, the termite workers will radiate out from the nest and end up foraging in a territory of 400 to 2,200 square meters. That is approximately 1/2 acre or 24,000 square feet that will be covered by a single termite colony.
Its not saying the nest its self covers 24,000 square feet, just the area foraged by the workers. And thats only about half an acre. It didn't say anything about nests being taller than sky scrapers.
Nonetheless, despite your distortions, I'll take your point about the relative success of these animals. However I don't think humans should be competing with the rest of nature to achieve maximum biomass. We should be striving for maximum happiness and fullfillment of the human experience, which isn't exactly in just mere numbers.
Actually, people and insects work more similarily than you might expect, and their behavior is governed by the same basic principals of all life: get food, reproduce, and propogate the species. Sure, people like to complicate matters and bring issues of happyness and morality into play, but ultimatly our goals are very similar.
Yeah but
not even all insects rely on hierarchies like ants and termites. Regardless of how any insect lives, I really don't think most human beings want to live their lives like worker ants. I think most people have been socialized into it and economically coerced into it.
