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For once, I won’t be talking about artificial intelligence. No robots, no algorithms, no ChatGPT. Just us. This silent phenomenon running through our hospitals, our schools, our workshops, our labs. This week, I look at the gradual fading away of a discreet but essential class: the ants. The ones who keep the world standing while others dance on the ruins. La Fontaine wrote The Grasshopper and the Ant. Today, he might write The Ants Driven Out by the Grasshoppers.
The Grasshopper and the Ant, the final season.
Forget La Fontaine. His fable no longer holds.
In today’s world, it is no longer the grasshopper who finds herself destitute when the north wind blows. No, she demands a right to heating, a “climate” allowance and emotional recognition for her hard winters.
And the ant? She no longer has time to reply. She’s grafting. Well… she was.
Our age has swapped the roles: the grasshopper has become a full-time influencer, an activist every waking moment, an expert in everything except effort.
The ant, meanwhile, is fading away. Worn out, scorned, invisible. She doesn’t protest, she doesn’t shout. She disappears. Calmly. For good.
And while the grasshoppers scroll, post and rage at the speed of 5G, the pillars of the real world are crumbling without a sound.
One day, when the lights no longer come on, when there are no more teachers, no more doctors, no more tradespeople to fix the leaks, a panicked voice will ask:
“Where have all the ants gone?”
Spoiler: they’re not coming back. They’ve understood. And they’ve taken their leave.
Find the full transcript of this episode, along with all the sources and plenty more, at: The ants are fading