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11 comments

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JoeAltmaier
Not a spiral! Simply a cycle.
Qz
If you add the dimension of the lifetime of the ant, then it becomes a spiral, hence death spiral.
JoeAltmaier
I don't get it - where is the spiral? The ants are circling.
Qz
You're only thinking two dimensionally.
JoeAltmaier
I guess the TShirt guy is too.
sprout
Can't put time on a T-Shirt. Clearly he's thinking 3-dimensionally.
silentOpen
Take the origin as the end of life. The angular position of the ant is maintained as the angular position of the ant-life. The distance to the origin is a measure of the ant's remaining life. As the ant walks around the origin in a cycle, the ant's remaining life decreases. When the ant-life reaches the origin, the ant dies wherever it was in the cycle.
JoeAltmaier
I get it - its a spiral if you draw it that way. Then anything is a spiral - an ant marching thru the forest, me biking across Iowa, we're both approaching the 'origin'. I was hoping something about the ant motion would work into the spiral-ness.
j_baker
Hmmm... interesting. I suppose this could be thought of as a real-life example of livelock. Or maybe a deadlock with busy waiting.
Jach
Interesting behavior. I like the one commenter's explanation that it emerges from ants simply being selected to follow ants in front of them.