Chapter 681: There is no information in pheromones——
Zhou Qing actually guessed part of the reasons given by Taros correctly.
The pheromones secreted by the queen insect are unique and direct. Except for a kind of insect named "transmission insect" that can act as an indirect carrier of pheromones, other non-insect life forms will make the pheromones ineffective if they come into contact with them.
"What if insects other than the transmission insects come into contact with pheromones?" Romantina asked seriously, using her brain, which possessed amazing wisdom.
"Forehead···"
Talos was speechless, but seeing that her companions had quietly moved away from her for a distance, she explained to avoid embarrassment, "Other insects will carry out orders when they come into contact with pheromones, which also saves the time of the transmission insects transporting the pheromones to the working area of the corresponding insect species."
"Haha, that's it! I thought of that a long time ago!"
Romantina also realized that she had asked a stupid question, but she was not embarrassed. She defended herself and then asked another question, "Zhou Qing said before that the pheromones of the queen insect were ineffective because they were contaminated by the pheromones emitted by you. Is that true?"
Taros and Tais looked at each other in silence for a while before asking, "To be honest, this is the first time we have heard of this statement... May I ask this young man, do we also emit pheromones? Or do mutants also emit pheromones similar to those of insect swarms?"
[I almost forgot, these people don’t have this concept yet, I need to think about how to explain it in a more popular way...]
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Qing said: "In fact, the word 'smell' is also quite appropriate. Just like when people smell feces and urine, they will pinch their noses, hold their breath, and instinctively stay away; when they smell the fragrance of flowers, they can't help but move forward, or even bend down to smell it.
After you smell something, you don’t need to think to yourself, “It stinks, I want to move away” or “It smells good, I want to move closer.” Your body will take the initiative to act, almost subconsciously.”
After understanding the concept of "subconscious behavior", everyone suddenly realized why the Zerg Kingdom was so well organized.
Because all life activities of the insect swarms within the insect kingdom, whether it is mining, transportation, plant cultivation, food processing, protecting the queen insect, etc., are "subconscious behaviors" and are the instinct of life!
And isn’t the instinct of life something that all living things possess?
Zhou Qing continued, "When we smell a fragrance, we will instinctively approach it, and when we smell a bad smell, we will instinctively move away from it. However, humans are creatures with their own thoughts after all, so after the subconscious instinctive behavior, they will think in more detail and decide whether to approach or move away.
If humans do not have their own thoughts, then their bodies should act completely under the influence of these pheromones.
Theoretically, if we continue to expand the scope of the two concepts of [stay away when you smell a bad odor] and [approach when you smell a good fragrance] and continue to add various details, then we can create pheromone categories in the billions, which can involve all aspects of the survival and reproduction of a race... Well, the insect kingdom we are currently in seems to be such a special race."
"So, human sweat has a bad smell and can be considered a pheromone?" Romantina asked.
"Sweat itself is not a pheromone, but it does have a similar effect to pheromones, and it can even affect the effect of pheromones. After all, most pheromones rely on smell to transmit information, and once covered by other smells, it is easy to affect judgment."
Zhou Qing first answered Romantina's question, then returned to the main topic and explained why the pheromones emitted by other organisms would affect the pheromones of the queen insect.
"The operation of the entire Zerg Kingdom is based on pheromones. There are hundreds of millions of types of pheromones, which enable the various Zerg swarms within the kingdom to complete their respective tasks. The information that pheromones convey must also be accurate to a level that is unimaginable to humans."
Of course, Zhou Qing also knew that, just as there is no wife in the wife cake, pheromones themselves do not contain information. It is only when pheromones are received by a certain organ of the same species (mainly the olfactory organ), a certain fragment in the gene or blood is activated, which in turn affects other tissues and organs of the body to produce corresponding operations, and the final result is that the organism itself starts a certain life activity.
That is to say!
Pheromones are just for stimulation and to allow the information that is already engraved in genes and blood to be presented and expressed.
But the people present were obviously not yet at the stage of being exposed to this concept. If they were to directly explain that genes and blood contain life information, they would definitely have to explain a lot. Therefore, when Zhou Qing explained it to them, he could only assume that pheromones contain abstract and materialized conceptual information content such as "stay away when you smell a bad odor" and "come closer when you smell a fragrance."
"Then you can understand why even if it is the pheromone secreted by the queen insect, it will become ineffective if it becomes 'second-hand', right?
All matters, big or small, within this insect kingdom are communicated through pheromones. After receiving specific information, the corresponding work is done.
Once the pheromones are mixed, the message transmitted is unclear, so they will be ignored and continue to do the previous job conveyed by the pheromones.
After all, for such a large kingdom to function, there must be corresponding protective measures to prevent part of the swarm in the swarm kingdom from being driven and used by other creatures as much as possible. "
Although this explanation is different from the actual principle of how pheromones act on organisms, it is basically the same in terms of expression.
At least until humans develop large-scale research on the microscopic level——
Already applicable!
"Oh, I see. The emperor issued an order, which was passed on by the eunuchs. The person who was to receive the order had the innate ability to know whether the order had been modified by others. If it had been modified, he would not accept it and would send the eunuch back to ask the emperor to issue it again." Dugu Bo gave a more vivid metaphor, and then he complained again, "Then this queen insect is really open-minded, and the working insect swarm is really willful."
Why do you say that?
Whether it is the Tiandou Empire or the Xingluo Empire, the emperor's decree, even if it has been revised, if the person who received the order dared not accept it and even dared to ask the emperor to issue a new one, his future will definitely be bleak!
"Your Majesty, this metaphor is quite vivid." Talos said with a smile, "In most cases, humans are worse than this swarm of insects."
"Humph! They are just bugs after all!"
Although Dugu Bo also admitted that the Zerg's operating method was efficient, but just like that, the Zerg gave him a sense of déjà vu, as if it were a puppet of something, and he naturally disdained it... To be honest, at this moment he did have thoughts like [there's nothing wrong with the Zerg being used by humans].
"Your Majesty is right. They are just bugs."
The smile on Talos's face -
More natural.
After all, in the current situation, studying and controlling the insect swarm seems to be a natural thing.
(End of this chapter)
