Apex

[D. Ein]

In tiny pathways ranked by blades of grass, amongst the heavy wet branches, there crawled an Ant, foraging for food. Thought the Ant to herself, "I am but an ant. I am naught before these great green pillars, and I struggle to make way through the vast forests of felled Trees and foliage. Yet, despite living as a mere ant, I am lord among Aphids." Thence came a loud croak, and the Ant ceased her thoughts, escaping the ominous sound.

Upon a pile of leaves, there sat a rock; and upon the rock there sat a bloated brown Bullfrog, bathing in the sunlight. Thought the Bullfrog to himself, "I am but a bullfrog. I am naught before the Rain, whose absence is my doom, and whose presence is my paradise. Yet, be a bullfrog as I might, I am terror amongst Ants." Thence a jagged shadow slid over the fields, and the Bullfrog hurriedly fled beneath a bush.

And in between the forests and the sky, there soared a proud Aegle, seeking sustenance for her young. Thought the Aegle to herself, "I am the Aegle, master of my domain, above all - no Tree shall impede my way, and no Rain shall wash away my nest. My augury spells death for all that is beneath. Yet, just like my prey respects me, I must respect my prey; for without them, how would my young ever survive?" Thence a bullet cut short the Aegle's musings, and the raptor fell limply to the ground.

In a forest clearing there stood a Man, beholding the Aegle descend from the skies. Thought the Man to itself, "I am Man, and what was that Aegle thinking, soaring so haughtily above all, as if it is the master? No Tree shall impede my way either, for I hold a hatchet; and no Rain shall leave uncorrupted, for I poison the air." Thence another bullet cut short the Man's musings, and it fell before a fellow Man.

----

Inb4 "it's spelled Eagle" or "Aegle is a Greek deity". It is supposed to be an eagle, and it's spelled that way for a reason. =P

[Feathertail]

I think it'd be more fun if every last one of them thought they were awesome, and weren't even conscious of anything "above" them. I can totally see ants doing that -- they've got huge empires and plans for world domination. Plus they're ruthless!

The ending was really interesting though. ^.^ A useful reminder maybes.

[KaiAdin]

I guess the lesson here is that, no one should think too highly of themselves?

And also despite the ending of the man killing another man, we are also subject to the laws of the universe too, not just each other, Entropy... Supernovas... comets asterioids, haha more things that don't quite make us masters of the universe (Yet...)

[Lopez]

That's the initial quality. But there's another really strange feeling. The thing which kills man is NOT a higher organism, it is another man. That means that there can be no higher, because at this point the graph of predator and prey levels off. The only thing we have to limit us is ourselves. POGO QUOTE: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

A very, very strange relationship. As humans, we have developed our own miniature predator-prey relationship INSIDE the natural predator-prey relationship order.

[LoCk]

neat!  i like the food chain thing you employed here and how man kinda messed it all up. don't know if you meant that but it was a good touch.

[Geary]

Wonderful story... thing. I'm not good with coming up with philosophical things at a moments notice, but I get the general meaning of it. Besides, philosophy is AnalysisWolf's job. 

[Feathertail]

That's the initial quality. But there's another really strange feeling. The thing which kills man is NOT a higher organism, it is another man. That means that there can be no higher, because at this point the graph of predator and prey levels off. The only thing we have to limit us is ourselves. POGO QUOTE: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Not quite accurate. People do get killed by animals ... natural disasters ... poisonous insects and ants ~.^

Definitely something of a predator-prey relationship between individual human beings though.

[KaiAdin]

A very, very strange relationship. As humans, we have developed our own miniature predator-prey relationship INSIDE the natural predator-prey relationship order.

Inside the Natural order? How about where males of one species attack each other for territory/mating rights/establishing a pecking order, isn't that natural too?

Also... I would contend, that Human society is natural as well, civilization, society and it rules are all based on how related to each other and the world, which occurs through our brains, subject to selection pressures, evolution as every other living organism did on this planet.

Everything we do, from buildings, tech, the arts, tools, weapons, culture and such is just as natural as anything else in this world/universe. Its been refined a bit... such as using a tractor and harvester to grow food, as a chimp uses a stick to get termites, but everything we do has analogues in the natural world. Humans are just another type of animal that inhabits this blue dot that is the planet earth.

[KaiAdin]

Also D.Ein: Aegle... which one are you referring to? Wikipedia points to a few figures in Greek Mythology named Aegle .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegle_(mythology)

(I Figured I'm made a new post since its unrelated to the reply to Lopez)

[D. Ein]

Also D.Ein: Aegle... which one are you referring to? Wikipedia points to a few figures in Greek Mythology named Aegle .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegle_(mythology)

(I Figured I'm made a new post since its unrelated to the reply to Lopez)

Inb4 "it's spelled Eagle" or "Aegle is a Greek deity". It is supposed to be an eagle, and it's spelled that way for a reason. =P

It was an aesthetic (pun intended) touch to a common word, to establish the feeling that the eagle is, in fact, superior to those things on the ground. =)

Not quite accurate. People do get killed by animals ... natural disasters ... poisonous insects and ants ~.^

Very true, but this does not happen in numbers nearly large enough to be significant. You could say the exact same thing about animals, too. There's a million tiny nuances one could go into when describing this sort of thing, but since this is flash fiction, I only focused on the main points.

A very, very strange relationship. As humans, we have developed our own miniature predator-prey relationship INSIDE the natural predator-prey relationship order.

Inside the Natural order? How about where males of one species attack each other for territory/mating rights/establishing a pecking order, isn't that natural too?

Also... I would contend, that Human society is natural as well, civilization, society and it rules are all based on how related to each other and the world, which occurs through our brains, subject to selection pressures, evolution as every other living organism did on this planet.

Everything we do, from buildings, tech, the arts, tools, weapons, culture and such is just as natural as anything else in this world/universe. Its been refined a bit... such as using a tractor and harvester to grow food, as a chimp uses a stick to get termites, but everything we do has analogues in the natural world. Humans are just another type of animal that inhabits this blue dot that is the planet earth.

I know it was a question to Lopez, but I'd like to comment as well ^_^;
I would have to disagree with you. Humans are unnatural in one way only: so far, we have been unable to find a life form that has the same kind of grasp on the entire planet as humans do. When have chipmunks caused global warming? When have bees caused the extinction of an entire species?...etc, etc. Ants come somewhat close, as a certain species of ant has a sort of a "global alliance" - if you take an ant of this species from a mound in Australia and expose it to a specimen from Europe, they will get along rather dandily - not so for every other ant species (they'd get in a fight).

Hence, actually, why this story is called "Apex". =P

[Geary]

That's the initial quality. But there's another really strange feeling. The thing which kills man is NOT a higher organism, it is another man. That means that there can be no higher, because at this point the graph of predator and prey levels off. The only thing we have to limit us is ourselves. POGO QUOTE: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

There is no top of the food chain, everything is something other species' prey.

[KaiAdin]

I know it was a question to Lopez, but I'd like to comment as well ^_^;
I would have to disagree with you. Humans are unnatural in one way only: so far, we have been unable to find a life form that has the same kind of grasp on the entire planet as humans do. When have chipmunks caused global warming? When have bees caused the extinction of an entire species?...etc, etc. Ants come somewhat close, as a certain species of ant has a sort of a "global alliance" - if you take an ant of this species from a mound in Australia and expose it to a specimen from Europe, they will get along rather dandily - not so for every other ant species (they'd get in a fight).

Hence, actually, why this story is called "Apex". =P

Ah, those are the unforseen consequences, of what are our 'Basic' and natural instincts, emergent properties of a collection (animalistic) human behaviours that drive us towards attaining 'comfort' and 'happyness'. It just so happens humans larger brains have enabled us to augment our ability to alter the environment to unprecedented scale, its still in the end lead by those natural instincts.

Hence all this argument on humans short-sightedness with environmental policy and protection... our brains are not excatly wired to think 200/2000/200000 years into the future (the future of our species,) when they are at the core wired to help the body they are attached to  survive  the next 20 hours...(like every other animal in the world)

On that Ant example... do you know what species exactly? I dont quite recall any that did that, but I it could happen, it would make sense if all the colonies of a species of ant worked together. *Never studied insects much*

[KaiAdin]

There is no top of the food chain, everything is something other species' prey.

Yea but not normally, lions dont always attack humans for food, usually the injured or sick/desperate ones do so. Food webs/chains usually refer to 'normal' relation ships
Likewise its rare for a Bear to be attacked by some other hungry animal.

Ohhh... also Apex... Apex Predator, heh, just realised that just now!  

[D. Ein]

On that Ant example... do you know what species exactly? I dont quite recall any that did that, but I it could happen, it would make sense if all the colonies of a species of ant worked together. *Never studied insects much*

Here you go!

[KaiAdin]

Sweeet! Thats really Cool! Though it said it was spread and maintained my human travel, which is kinda ironic in a way, as we helped it happen in the first place!