'Be Careful of Little Lives': E.O. Wilson

The great biologist and student of ants, E.O. Wilson, was on C-Span the other day, endorsing, among other ideas, Einstein's belief that we must all become vegetarians or turn the earth to powder. There are more than 500 vegetable species we could rely on, Wilson said; we have limited ourselves to five.

At the end of the program there came a religious moment. The moderator read an email: "What do you do about ants in the kitchen?" I was washing the dishes, and turned to listen. I have a problem with ants near one of the dog bowls.

Wilson said, "Be careful of little lives." Then he said, Well, ants like honey or bits of tuna, you can feed them that. Get a magnifying glass, study them. You will be seeing one of the most socially-organized societies on the planet. And this, he said, is what life probably looks like in other parts of the universe.

I was humbled. At the risk of stating the obvious, I had expected a murderous solution. But the amateur's love of nature was alive in this great man even at age 78. Be careful of little lives.