The Ants and the Pen

The Ants and the Pen

One day a lone ant strayed across a piece of paper ‘This remarkable thing, with a life of its own,’ cried the ant. ‘Making squiggles on this beautiful surface to such an extent and with such energy that it is equal to the efforts of all the ants in the world. These resemble ants. And not just one ant. But millions of ants, all running together!’ And the little ant was so excited that he rushed off to spread the news, This second ant was just as thrilled by the squiggles and congratulated the bearer of the news for his discovery and for his powers of observation. But a third ant wasn’t so impressed, saying: ‘I am afraid that you have allowed your emotions to run away with you, rather than giving the matter serious scientific ant thought. Didn’t you notice that the pen is actually attached to and surrounded by all sorts of other things? It is my scientific conclusion that these other objects are powering it. So whatever is supplying the power is responsible for these squiggles.’ And this is how the group of ants first discovered fingers. Scientific scrutiny is such that it wasn’t long before another ant decided to extend the area of understanding. Because this is what exploring ants do. And realising this, he rushed off to spread the news. This latest ant was equally thrilled by the description of the hand, and congratulated the bearer of the news for his discovery and for his powers of ant observation. As time went by, ant after ant set out to extend the boundaries of the ants’ understanding. One ant discovered that the hand was attached to an arm. Another discovered that there were in fact two hands. As their investigations progressed, the ants came to know all there was to know of the mechanics of writing. So after all this time, if you were to ask an ant to read a word……or what message a squiggle is attempting to communicate…