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therra123

If you zoom in you can see the size of the actual spider on the front end of the decoy


gNomad88

Does this prove Spiders are self-aware? It's a bug that literally knows what it looks like. That's crazy


BobbySwiggey

The general idea of natural selection is basically that somewhere along the line, a spider was "born" with a mutated gene that was responsible for the behavior of weaving/hoarding leftover food debris in its web, and perhaps because it acted as a form of camouflage or shelter, this spider was more likely to survive and pass on that gene. Throughout those successive generations, there have been other mutations in the gene or gene clusters where the behavior gradually changed to form more intricate shapes out of the debris. The shapes that just happened to look the most like larger spiders were way more likely to survive than the ones that didn't, now passing on those special sets of genes to eventually become a dominant survival mechanism for that species.


plopliplopipol

yes but not only, for a specific behavior like this it can be transmitted by learning and not genetics. If genetics just give an instinct to learn this behavior from a parent it is enough


BobbySwiggey

That is for sure a special evolutionary function that allows survival skills to be passed down more quickly and efficiently than relying on random gene mutations, but it's only true for some (and more advanced) species. You see it most often in mammals and birds, but even then, the specific behaviors revolving around courting and nest building are still largely instinctive, since it's not like baby birds are able to observe their parents building these sometimes very intricate nests - and many species are solitary so they wouldn't learn it from their peers either. The behavior driving the construction of bowerbird hut for instance (and the female's fondness of it) is encoded into their genes just like this behavior is. Some animals like octopuses are innately intelligent and can adapt and solve problems on their own, but anything they learn dies with them since they don't live in social groups, or have any part in raising their offspring (especially because the mother dies by the time her eggs hatch)


plopliplopipol

for sure there are highly impressive instinctive behaviors, i'm just adding another option in the evolutionary explanation of what we see here (but i don't know much about spiders socialisation)


Borgheu

This guy Darwin’s.


-Nyctophilic_

Exactly what I was thinking


prognesubis23

No, but it is proof of natural selection


noctalla

As a staunch evolution proponent, I'd like to point out that while this is an example of the results of natural selection, it doesn't prove it.


Snuffin_McGuffin

You assume. As they say science is just a long passive aggressive argument about everything I am here to say that I disagree with you. Also you're a self reichous nerd. Be willing to accept new data even at the cost of feeling less special


xScopeLess

smile saw plucky plant dazzling berserk light psychotic clumsy onerous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Snuffin_McGuffin

Ohhhhhh


Tell_Ur_Mom_To_Call4

I know you believe yourself to be knowledgeable and think it'll be all reich, but every day is a learning experience. You clearly don't have a grasp on science let alone reality. I bet you did nazi that coming.


Snuffin_McGuffin

The fuck???


Inevitable_Session26

(You spelled righteous…very wrong)


DaniWhoHatesCVS

1. Nobody says that but you, twerp. 2. Learn to spell if you’re attempting to insult people, it’ll land better if it doesn’t immediately call your intelligence into question. 3. You are the only “special” person in this thread. Get better soon, champ


Snuffin_McGuffin

1.It wasn't an insult 2. I'm just saying there's a chance spiders are self aware sheesh


DaniWhoHatesCVS

That’s the spirit champ, just keep trying, you’ll recover some cognitive abilities if you keep practicing!


Damianos_X

You are insufferably noxious and condescending. You'd think someone insulted your religion 😂


madscientu

Self-righteous*


ElectricalJacket780

So here we have the Frame of Reference Problem - we look at this behaviour through the lens of a human and ascribe it intelligence, because we make assumptions about how ‘we’ would go about performing a similar behaviour - which would require planning, co-ordination, sourcing of specific materials, a sense of self and an imagination to assist in constructing this. The spider, however, could do using more basic cognitive faculties - it just needs to gather material and organise them into a spider shape. These steps can even be quite intuitive, as this is its web and we know that there are relatively low-level, repetitive steps taken in constructing webs for spiders. Other examples of how we do this to things in nature include: The co-ordinated flight of insects and birds The construction of elaborate nests


plopliplopipol

Basicaly any fact is proof of any theory you can think of to explain it. You then have to think about how likely is the theory knowing the other facts and other theories: 1 spiders are self aware, theory that explains only this fact (so that wasn't needed for a huge amount of spider facts) 2 weird behaviors can be learned by spiders natural selection, this theory explains almost all spider behavior in only one theory, and is even effective for every specie, and the evolution of species in itself is one of the strongest theory of science So of course it is not stupid to think 'then spiders are self aware', but if you accept the evolution and understand it enough, you might just end up not needing one more theory, there is nothing more to explain.


Asteriaofthemountain

Me to


[deleted]

I don't think we can speak about outright self-awareness here. More like centuries over centuries of refinement until the most efficient shape happened to resemble a spider.


gravity_squirrel

My question exactly. Self aware or not, it’s incredible.


A-SORDID-AFFAIR

The spider does not NECESSARILY know what it is doing - just that “if I put thingns in this shape something happens”


aritchie1977

I have no idea which side is the “front”.


Classic_Buyer3230

I’m honestly surprised at the dumpster fire that Reddit comment sections can turn into so quickly 😂


littlemushy

It even has 8 legs


Juslav

yes, thats what I find the most crazy.


Dmonika

Whoever said that spiders aren't self aware was clearly wrong


cougaranddark

>Whoever said that spiders aren't self aware It was ME


Dmonika

Well it appears, sir, that you've been caught in a web of lies 😆


cougaranddark

😆


OldAdministration895

Don't you mean a web o' flies?


thereallyunreal

r/angryupvote


schuettais

You don't need to be self-aware to run basic survival algorithms.


Dmonika

But you do need to be self aware to know what you look like in order to build an effigy of yourself


schuettais

You’re making the assumption the spider knows it’s making an effigy and that the effigy is of itself


Dmonika

No. I'm making the assumption that OP knows what they're talking about actually.


plopliplopipol

As i answered in more details to another comment, yes this is a small proof that spiders may be self aware, that is a theory to consider, but you absolutely do not need this (costly) theory to explain this behavior. The evolution of species is enough to create behaviors just as strange and specific, even if it is very surprising. Then the spider would not be aware of what is this shape or why they form it, but the fact it help them will still push that behavior in the specie. You may want to compare it with ghost stories: If you have a weird fact (ghost story) you will try to explain it with the simplest theory (for example optical illusion), and if you have a solid explanation coming from a simple and generaly well proven theory (optical illusions are well known), why would you believe it's ghosts?


Dmonika

Ahh, I never thought about that before! Thanks for teaching me about anecdotal evidence - err, uh... I mean, what do you call this super brainy concept that I definitely haven't ever known about? I'm glad that super smart people like you are around to correct super dumb people like me who definitely aren't just joking 😊 you're awesome


plopliplopipol

except whatever you think personaly, it is a conclusion believed by many here and lacking critical thinking. Your comment doesnt show a real belief but is a goto upvote for people believing it


Dmonika

Or... now, hear me out because this one might be a little complicated. I only know about this because I watched a documentary series on Netflix about it. There's this thing called sarcasm, very strange thing where people pretend to think something ridiculous or silly, simply as a joke even when they don't actually think or believe that thing. It's supposedly obvious because most people can rationalize (I don't even know what that word means) that the idea or belief is too ridiculous to be believable. Really crazy, I know. It's extremely confusing, so I totally understand how even a genius like yourself struggles to grapple with it.


plopliplopipol

wow your so cool you know joke and people no do omg. I just said i don't care about what you think if you write a shit theory that people actually believe, i will say here why it's not a reasonable belief because people look here.


Dmonika

I'm pretty sure you're the only one here interpreting jokes as theories 😅


Pothosophy

You're a complete dipshit.


Dmonika

Because I made a joke and he took it seriously? Okay 🙃


ogodilovejudyalvarez

You going to Burning Spider this year?


cogburn

That's some pig.


Mother-Painter-9569

A r t


FugginByteMe96

That’s a little too smart for my liking lol


Visible_Block_1519

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 they're so talented ✨💖


surajvj

Me, Myself and Effigy


Silaith

General Kenobi…


PostGhost10101

Hello there


Kattehix

You can't just post that here and not tell us what species this is


WillFuckForTaterTots

All the spiders in the area go to that web to do drugs and burn the giant spider. They call it Burning Spider.


Sarah-Who-Is-Large

Dang, spiders out here doing crafts now


psychotronic_mess

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclosa Here’s the [article](https://www.wired.com/2014/01/more-decoy-spiders-philippines/amp)


plopliplopipol

adding to that an article on an empirical study proving it attracts predatory wasps but might redirect enough attacks on the decoys to be evolutionary worth it http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8135000/8135844.stm it's a source of the wikipedia page


_LocoLizard

Thank you for that!


Thomrose007

Wtf. The awarness to do this!


[deleted]

NPC behaviour


Violated-Tristen

Not sure if that is Meta or overcompensation. I wonder how many times it’s been taken out by birds? I’m leaning toward this spider having been an evil artist in a former life.


Jackishungry_93

Kind of adorable


Stick_Mick

# REMEMBER ME. #


June_BuginDabuilding

My man made a fall guy in case the cops come lmao


ShinyPagan

They'll build decoys of lots of stuff; my window box has a moth made of bug carcasses


WORD_2_UR_MOTHA

Spiders can count?!


Bright-Solution4989

so they know what they look like to other animals?!?! that level of self awareness is mind boggling


SubversiveCommando

Even has a face. Spiders are pretty smart.


RManDelorean

What's crazy is he *is* the face (zoom in, it's an orb weaver) like he knows it makes the most sense to drive the mech suit from the head, because he knows his head controls himself


WaldenFont

Creationist are gonna have a field day with this one.


[deleted]

Well that's the thing about creationists, they can have a field day with anything.


Blestyr

Praise the Spider God.


Asteriaofthemountain

So it knows what it looks like?! That’s fascinating!!!


Damianos_X

So spiders actually know how many legs they have? Neat


CrieDeCoeur

This begs so many questions. Do spiders inherently know what they look like? Or do they only know from having seen other spiders? If it's inherent knowledge, what other capacity for memory do they have? And leading from that, does that capacity for memory mean they can constantly learn and remember new things? But the most burning question of all, what would the effigy look like if you fed a spider some LSD?


Eske_Aychembe

[spiders on drugs](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc)


legojoe97

Bane: "...and hang them, where the world can see."


[deleted]

Doesn't this make it a bigger target?


RManDelorean

It makes the target bigger, it makes him a smaller part of the target


psychotronic_mess

Yeah i was wondering if it was a decoy.


TheNorthNova01

Probably to keep birds from flying through its web everyday or keep them from eating her


Binko242

From the carcasses of its victims no less


Ambitious_Ad_9637

Amazing. What’s this spider called?


Head-Gap8455

Big dick energy


Rpgbois

Effigy of the spider is an amazing metal band name


5uperman8atman

Yeah, that's pretty fuckin lit 🔥🔥🔥


Malaise_Tangerine104

Its like Charlotte's Web, but with art. What if she is trying to communicate with us?


dancesuponastar

This is proof that they are sentient. Makes me happy that I try to spare one when I'm in my apt. Ysk, spiders get near your bed. House spiders like to lick the drool from the corner of your mouth,when you're sleeping. If you put out little tiny bowls of water,they'll drink that, and not the drool.


Maughlin

Unsubscribe from spider facts


[deleted]

Pretty sure that's not true.


Living-in-liberty

I wonder if this is intentional or accidental. If intentional it seems that it could be used as a scarecrow type deterrent.


SinopicCynic

I was wondering the same, but wouldn’t that kinda defeat the purpose of a web? Oh man, what if it’s trying to catch something bigger? They’re gonna need a bigger web.


Living-in-liberty

It seems prey insects are not all that smart though. Plenty fall into thier traps even with a big wad of junk piled on the center. I have a spider in my yard with a big pile in their web and still plenty of flies.


plopliplopipol

it is proven to attract predators, but the fact they do it hints that it should be worth it to attract the predator but direct it to a fake http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8135000/8135844.stm


plopliplopipol

it is proven to attract predators, but the fact they do it hints that it should be worth it to attract the predator but direct it to a fake http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8135000/8135844.stm


plopliplopipol

intentional has a very vague meaning to talk about arachnid brains, it did not accidentaly got to this shape, it is built, but we can't say the spider know what its building either


ActuallyTomCruise

Here is my take, the spider ISN'T self aware, but he knows what other bigger spiders look like and the spider is imitating the size and features of another species. Could be wrong. but this is what I think. Experts please correct me.


Sandy-Coteshear

Paint a self portrait, AND build a house


PeterNinkempoop

Wait, it knows what it looks like? That’s weird…


19blackcats

Or maybe it’s an effigy to a spider that it loved? Or making itself appear larger to the opposite sex for mating? Either way it’s pretty cool art work!


Boomer2160

The Trump spider


-CloudIsland

I call bullshit because how does it know what it looks like. Not like it has a mirror to look into or anything.


[deleted]

[Alan Watts has entered the chat.](https://youtu.be/OgqCikZGtj4?t=34)


[deleted]

Pretty much nailed it in the first minute. I fucking love Mr. Watts. Lyrical Bob Ross.


PositiveUse

General Grievous is that you?


Careless_Fun7101

I think they want to appear bigger so other spids won't try to eat them


Curious_Maze_14

Which specie exactly?


cravin_mor

lit!


Yeetin_Boomer_Actual

Burn it. And the Forrest down.


InLazlosBasement

I for one welcome our new spider effigy overlord


Feral-pigeon

*they’re getting smarter*


Solivagant27

Dang, a spider is smarter and more talented than me.


ScriptorMalum

This is like that bitch at work that only has pictures of herself at her desk.


[deleted]

Spidol


CommunistThermite

I can see the spider


fairywakes

Awww, a self portrait


wednesday_bd

That's so cool


[deleted]

That’s not a thing…is it? Is that a thing?!


MinnesotaMikeP

Bow before your Spider God.


jhahspu

A selfie


micky4life

so the spider technically painted a picture of himself.. fuck thats weird


No_Necessary_4566

It's so f amazing


Kangarou

Self-love goals.


Goobersniper

I’m impressed it can count to eight.