Support NeoGAF

[Bob White]

They have power in numbers and strength.

We have our brains and weapons.

Who'd be the dominant species?

I personally think we'd be done for. Fucking ants, man. If they even get to the size of rats we're fucked. And has their ever been a movie with big ants as the monsters? Shit, big ants >>>>> zombies.

 

[DarienA]

Black Bulldog Ant... we're doomed.

 

[bob_arctor]

 

[demon]

With the technology we have now? It would take lots of firepower and work, but we could take'em. If we're talking about ants having always been as big as dogs, I think we would've been fucked a long time ago.

 

[bob_arctor]

And has their ever been a movie with big ants as the monsters? Shit, big ants >>>>> zombies.

 

[Timen]

hell no, why do you think we have ninja's and pirates?

 

[DECK'ARD]

Which inspired the Amiga classic:

 

[DarienA]

I actually remember this movie.

 

[Phoenix]

We would simply just start hunting them down and killing them all if they were that much a threat. Mankind is pretty good at killing off things that it finds threatening/inconvenient that does not have the technological means to defend itself. Ants would quickly go on the endangered species list.

 

[impirius]

That depends...

Would there be the exact same number of ants as now, only they're all dog-sized? Because if that's the case, man, we're doomed. Humanity will be pushed to the North and South Poles.

 

[Bob White]

Shit, thats just overkill. Thank god ants aren't any bigger than....well, ants.

Now watch, tomorrow when I wake up, ants will have suddenly grown as big as cars or something. Fucking twilight zone style.

 

[Manics]

I wonder if those big ants would be tasty meat for our dinner tables? You just know we'd have tried eating them if they were big and meaty.

 

[bob_arctor]

I actually remember this movie.

That's some old school shit right there. Back in the 70's/80's they used to play a lot more "classic" horror then now. I used to SWEAT that movie. I was in awe of the f/x. :lol

 

[karasu]

Not so long as we have gas masks.

 

[WedgeX]

All we would need is a ton of Windex, and those ants would pose no threat.

 

[TheOMan]

We would simply just start hunting them down and killing them all if they were that much a threat. Mankind is pretty good at killing off things that it finds threatening/inconvenient that does not have the technological means to defend itself. Ants would quickly go on the endangered species list.

If the ants didn't swarm us first. I'm thinking if ants were the size of dogs tomorrow, the human race would be finished 7 days later. I for one welcome our new overlords.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Ants have an exoskeleton don't they, all liquid inside and no meat?

So not for the dinner table. Although we'd probably find a way to run cars off them instead of petrol.

 

[Bob White]

I wonder if those big ants would be tasty meat for our dinner tables? You just know we'd have tried eating them if they were big and meaty.

Oh, game over if they're tasty to humans. We run shit down when we want to eat.

And about gas and poisons. Wouldn't they build up a defense to those?

 

[borghe]

edit - damnit, bob white and bob_arctor beat me.. shouldn't have taken that phone call.. grrrrr

 

[Dagless M.D.]

Which inspired the Amiga classic:

Not enough films are in thrill-o-vision anymore

 

[Phoenix]

If the ants didn't swarm us first. I'm thinking if ants were the size of dogs tomorrow, the human race would be finished 7 days later. I for one welcome our new overlords.

Probably not. The first thing that would happen is that the colonies would spend a considerable time killing off each other because they would suddenly have a lot less space and be right next to opposing mounds. By then, humanity would be ready to deliver a downward smacking hand to them

 

[impirius]

NUMBERS, people.

"Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time."

ONE QUADRILLION. If every ant we have now turns into a giant killer dog-sized ant, every man, woman, and child on earth will have to kill 166,000 ants each to eliminate the threat. 1 against 166,000... we can't win with those odds, dammit

 

[DarienA]

That's some old school shit right there. Back in the 70's/80's they used to play a lot more "classic" horror then now. I used to SWEAT that movie. I was in awe of the f/x. :lol

I can do you one better with an older Roger Corman classic....

Talking crabs dood.... TALKING F*CKIN CRABS!!!!!!

 

[LakeEarth]

I can do you one better with an older Roger Corman classic....

Talking crabs dood.... TALKING F*CKIN CRABS!!!!!!

Sounds like the title of my last date.
(rimshot)

 

[DECK'ARD]

NUMBERS, people.

"Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time."

ONE QUADRILLION. If every ant we have now turns into a giant killer dog-sized ant, every man, woman, and child on earth will have to kill 166,000 ants each to eliminate the threat. 1 against 166,000... we can't win with those odds, dammit

Ants are fiercely territorial and would turn on each other. We could use that to our advantage.

 

[Unison]

THEM! is actually a really good movie. It's almost certainly the best "giant killer animal" movie of the '50s.

 

[Bob White]

"Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time."

You have just scared the shit out of me.

 

[DarienA]

THEM! is actually a really good movie. It's almost certainly the best "giant killer animal" movie of the '50s.

Hell no Crab Monster > Them!!!!!



Seriously though Them is really god... my most vivid memory is of the little... girl? yelling about... It's Them! It's Them! It's Them!

 

[Phoenix]

NUMBERS, people.

"Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time."

ONE QUADRILLION. If every ant we have now turns into a giant killer dog-sized ant, every man, woman, and child on earth will have to kill 166,000 ants each to eliminate the threat. 1 against 166,000... we can't win with those odds, dammit

Nah.... since ants cant swim just move people out on boats and wait. That many ants will never find enough food to survive for their body weight and die off pretty quickly. Apply MOABs on the way back into the mainland

 

[Nameless]

Now....Yes.....
















But not if we had Space Marines:

 

[tedtropy]

Our giant magnifying glass satellite will finally have a purpose. USA! WHOOOO!

 

[Lucky Forward]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/tom/bil160/bil160goods/17_scaling.html

For a giant insect, we would expect that the animal would likely starve to death because it would not have the fine villi (invaginations in the gut wall) and complex foldings of the length of the intestine that give our intestines such a large surface area!

The giant insect would also suffocate from lack of absorption of oxygen from the air. Insects absorb air through spiracles, small openings on the surface of the abdomen which lead to tracheae, from which the oxygen is absorbed into the blood. Some arachnids - spiders - do have structures called book lungs, which consist of a folded structure. However, this is not as elaborate an infolding as found in the lungs of large animals such as ourselves. We have complex branched lungs, which provide a huge absorptive area. Additionally, we can compress and expand the lungs by muscles in the chest and thus force air in and out of the lungs.

During the Carboniferous, giant insects roamed the Earth. There were spiders the size of dinner plates and the flat five-foot-long Arthropleura, that crawled along the ground. Dragonflies, such as the Meganeuropsis permiana, had wingspans up to 2.5 feet. These and other organisms are described in a New York Times article, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004. According to this article, geologist Dr. Robert A. Berner, of Yale University, proposes that the reason that insects could be so large is that oxygen concentrations in the air during the Carboniferous might have been as high as 35%, as compared with 21% now. The higher oxygen concentration might have let the inefficient system of tracheae support a larger insect. When oxygen concentrations dropped, the large insects didn't fare so well and became extinct.

Suppose that we scaled up an insect by a factor of 100. The legs would have a diameter 100 times that of the original and a cross sectional area 100*100 = 10,000 times the original. But, the volume of the animal's body would be 100*100*100 = one million times the original volume. If the tissue and exoskeleton were exactly of the same composition, and thus density, the larger insect would weigh one million times as much as the original. But, the weight of the body would be supported on legs with only 10,000 times as much cross sectional area, and thus total strength, as the original. The weight supported per square millimeter of cross sectional area would have increased by 100 times! Force divided by area over which the force is applied is called pressure. The pressure on each millimeter of cross sectional area would have increased by 100 times! The result would likely be that the giant insect would crush its legs and collapse!

 

[demon]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/tom/bil160/bil160goods/17_scaling.html

And in comes you, ruining our fun with your scientician mumbo-jumbo...

 

[Nameless]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/tom/bil160/bil160goods/17_scaling.html

Cheesy B-Movie Attack of the giant [insert insect here] flicks have just been:

 

[Dilbert]

NUMBERS, people.

"Scientists estimate that there are one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants living on the earth at any given time."

Shit, must be time to pass another emergency $87B funding bill for the military! We're gonna need a lot of bullets.

 

[yoshifumi]

well if ants evolved to the point where they were that big, there probably wouldn't be quite so many of them. but if the world's current population of ants were all the size of dogs, we'd probably be screwed.

 

[COCKLES]

Only Joan Collins can save us!

 

[Timen]

NINJAS AND PIRATES PEOPLE!

 

[DarienA]

NINJAS AND PIRATES PEOPLE!

...don't forget monkeys!

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Now....Yes.....

But not if we had Space Marines:

Geez, it took that long for someone to mention Starship Troopers? That's the second thing that came to my mind after reading Bob's initial post, right after THEM! (a classic, btw).

 

[DECK'ARD]

 

[Baconäger]

THE ONLY GOOD BUG IS A DEAD BUG

 

[pxleyes]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/tom/bil160/bil160goods/17_scaling.html

Was just about to post the bit about their legs not supporting the weight at 100x their normal size.

But hey, who needs reality when you have the ant mission in the original Red Alert.

 

[borghe]

Them! is awesome. local classic cinema just played a double feature of Them! and the Incredible Shrinking Man.. Can't beat that for $4.50

 

[fennec fox]

My old roommate had this poster on the wall, and I thought it was a fabrication until I saw the actual movie. The box-out with the cop and the girl screaming "Kill one and two take its place!" still has me :lol today.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

Nah.... since ants cant swim just move people out on boats and wait. That many ants will never find enough food to survive for their body weight and die off pretty quickly. Apply MOABs on the way back into the mainland

: (

 

[heavy liquid]

If ants were big, we would domesticate ants and they would replace horses as our steed of choice.

 

[Phoenix]

: (

That's a typical behavior of ants. They will basically build a mound on top of each other and try to float on the bouyancy of the ones at the bottom. The ones at the bottom drown and float away and the process continues until they all drown or get to something such that the ones at the bottom are making an 'island' in the water.

 

[Shouta]

That's a typical behavior of ants. They will basically build a mound on top of each other and try to float on the bouyancy of the ones at the bottom. The ones at the bottom drown and float away and the process continues until they all drown or get to something such that the ones at the bottom are making an 'island' in the water.

We can just lob cannon shells on their mounds too.

 

[iapetus]

Which inspired the Amiga classic:

You wouldn't know classic if it swarmed over you, bit you to death and carried chunks of you many times its own body weight back to the classic hill.

This is classic: