A ladybug is caught in a web. A small spider moves in to attack. Predator versus predator. Spider lunges. Beetle parries. Spider dances around its opponent, looking for an opportunity, darting in to strike; beetle, hampered by the web, strikes back when the spider gets too close.
The fight was dramatic and vigorous, but ended in a draw; the ladybug escaped from the web; the spider went back to its corner muttering curses.
What was striking and perhaps a little appalling about the fight was how human it was. Skilled human fighters would recognize all the moves; the more skilled the human fighters were, the more their own moves would look like the sudden dartings and parries of insect and arachnid.
We surround our human conflicts with a nimbus of romance and philosophy. But two human beings fighting have slipped back hundreds of millions of years in evolutionary history. We have gone further back than the insects: we have gone back at least as far as our common ancestor with the insects. Strip away the romance, the uniforms and medals, the parades and marching bands, and we’re all a bunch of bugs.
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