ants

And the question is 'Would the ants be able to understand what a ten-lane super-highway is?

It should be clear to anyone that ants digging trough the dirt is categorically different than water flowing down the hill.

At some zoom-level, we are pushed so much closer to the ants that the difference is virtually indiscernible.

No, humans are as likely to arrive at the truths as ants an understanding of a microwave oven.

This is in contrast to the ants of Michio Kaku, who don't even know anything is going on.

Human beings and their intelligence didn't emerge from the complex interactions and structures created by billions of ants.

Its the beings that create a superhighway wishing to communicate in a way the ants would understand.

On the contrary, more time spent reading her essay is less time to spend observing ants.

She goes to great pains to talk about observing things like ants and coffee with friends instead of staring at screens.

Humans gather at residential centers with populations in the millions, yeah, so do ants.

So, for any meaningful purpose, our understanding would be much more closely aligned to that of the ants WRT the 10-lane superhighway.

Maybe what we think are roads (Electromagnetic waves) are to the beings as scent trails are to ants.

I agree, but that's a very different argument from "who are we, measly little ants to think we can understand..."

The word "ants" only appears in the title of this article....

Consciousness is an appearance, same as when an external observer sees an "intelligence" in behavior of a whole colony if bees or ants or, which requires special tools, bacteria.

It's worth noting that the opposite problem exists, and is frequently referenced in sayings such as "having a hammer and seeing everything as a nail" and "using nukes to kill ants".

Ants or bees colony, a big city at night, viewed from an aircraft - they all appear to have consciousness of its own, but no, it is mere an appearance.