A lesson on spiders

 When the Wise Woman hollered, I evicted a spider from the bathroom.

Although she does not like spiders, the Wise Woman insisted on a live capture. The intruder was released,  unharmed, to carry on in the garden.

The domestic drama reminded me of a remark by Edward O. Wilson, the evolutionary biologist, about another species of spider, Anelosimus studiosus, which lives throughout the Americas. Some live as individuals and others live in colonies, where they organize themselves into “personality castes.” That is, the docile spiders provide parental care while the aggressive spiders hunt for prey and defend the colony.

It's a peculiar notion to me. “Personality” is a difficult concept to grasp when talking about humans. When talking about spiders, it’s beyond difficult — at least to me.

But I do understand Wilson’s point: A lot of evolutionary history is still part of the human genome. The genetics that predispose living beings to act and organize themselves in certain ways are there, whether they are still used or not.

• Source: Edward O. Wilson, Genesis: The Deep Origin of Societies; New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2019, p. 95.