Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

Prelude . . . Ant Fugue 184to help myself to the juiciest ants I could find. (She's always beets most generous with herants.)ACHILLES: Gee!ANTEATER: It just happened that I had been watching the symbols which were carrying outher thoughts, because in them were some particularly juicy-looking ants.ACHILLES: Gee!ANTEATER: So I helped myself to a few of the fattest ants which had been parts of thehigher-level symbols which I had been reading. Specifically, the symbols which they werepart of were the ones which had expressed the thought "Help yourself to any of the antswhich look appetizing."ACHILLES: Gee!ANTEATER: Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, the little bugs didn't have theslightest inkling of what they were collectively telling me, on the symbol level.ACHILLES: Gee! That is an amazing wraparound. They were completely unconscious ofwhat they were participating in. Their acts could be seen as part of a pattern on a higher level,but of course they were completely unaware of that. Ah, what a pity-a supreme irony, in fact-that they missed it.CRAB: You are right, Mr. T-that was a lovely organ point.ANTEATER: I had never heard one before, but that one was so conspicuous that no onecould miss it. Very effective.ACHILLES: What? Has the organ point already occurred? How can I not have noticed it, if itwas so blatant?TORTOISE: Perhaps you were so wrapped up in what you were saying that you werecompletely unaware of it. Ah, what a pity-a supreme irony, in fact-that you missed it.CRAB: Tell me, does Aunt Hillary live in an anthill?ANTEATER: Well, she owns a rather large piece of property. It used to belong to someoneelse, but that is rather a sad story. In any case, her estate is quite expansive. She lives rathersumptuously, compared to many other colonies.ACHILLES: How does that jibe with the communistic nature of ant colonies which youearlier described to us? It sounds quite inconsistent, to me, to preach communism and to livein a fancy estate!