1) Destroying ant colonies becomes a criminal offence in many countries.
2) Some countries launch a campaign to exterminate the perceived threat.
3) There is a large outbreak of online conspiracy theories asserting that this is proof of the existence of aliens/Gods.
4) The person(s) who discovered ant colonies are intelligent becomes very famous and wins a lot of prizes.
5) Building things becomes more expensive due to the need to conduct surveys to ensure that no ant colonies are disturbed.
6) Special reservations are created where ant colonies can live free of human interference.
7) Computer games where you play as a simulated ant gain in popularity.
8) The UN tries to organise peace talks between warring ant colonies.
9) A large number of stories are written involving intelligent ant colonies.
10) A society for the promotion of the welfare of ants is formed
11) A lot of scientific research is diverted into trying to understand why ants colonies are intelligent, and how to communicate with them.
12) Companies that try to trade with ants lose money as it turns out that we don’t have much they want.
13) A lot of people refuse to believe that ant colonies are intelligent, and go on anti-ant protests claiming it is all a conspiracy.
14) The SETI program gets a large infusion of cash to hunt for other intelligences out there.
15) Intelligent ant colonies are able to grow faster, and go onto devastate many ecosystems.
16) Toy ants become one of the best selling toys.
17) Documentaries/non fiction books about ants become more popular.
18) A lot of people think ‘Oh that’s interesting’ - and then continue doing exactly what they would have done anyway.
19) Special jails have to be built to hold ant colonies that kill people.
20) It becomes illegal to keep ants as pets.
21) A movie with a totally unrealistic depiction of an ant colony as a hero wins the oscars.
22) It inspires a single love ‘Love our Ants’ which tops the charts for a record period of time.
23) A statue of an ant is put on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar square
24) Vegetarianism becomes more popular as some people start thinking other animals might also be intelligent.
25) Politicians make boring speeches about what this means about our place in the world, which are mostly ignored.
26) The US military gets a multi billion dollar budget for anti-ant super weapons, and the project goes hopelessly over budget.
27) Ant colonies become a convenient scapegoat for things like global warming.
28) It becomes illegal to keep ants as pets.
29) Ant colonies are given the vote in elections.
30) Ant colonies win an election as they outnumber the humans.
31) Ant colonies begin re-arranging the world to suit them.
32) There are a large number of anti-ant government protests.
33) Ant colonies decide that humans are an environmental menace and should be wiped out for the good of the rest of planet.
34) Ant colonies are able to use there numerical advantage to wipe the humans out.
35) Humans are able to use their advanced technology to make large ant colonies extinct.
36) Ants become temporarily the most googled keyword
37) Ant colonies inspire novel attempts to create AIs based on them.
38) Relations between different groups of humans becomes better as their differences looks small compared to their differences with ants.
39) People refuse to believe that ant colonies could be intelligent. It undermines trust in science, which is used by various special interest groups to undermine the scientific case whenever it is in their interests.
40) The number of people in prison increases as a lot of people are arrested for killing ants.
41) Fears that governments will ban pesticides that kill ants lead to people panic buying anti-ant pesticides.
42) Governments ban pesticides that could kill ants.
43) Reduced pesticide use leads to a drop in global food production.
44) Lack of food causes riots in several developing countries.
45) More people die of hunger.
46) Countries go to war over the lack of food.
47) School children are required to learn about ant colonies in school.
48) A campaign is launched to wipe out predators that could destroy ant colonies.
49) Zoos are no longer allowed to have ant colonies.
50) Zoos are no longer allowed to feed ants to their animals.
1) Destroying ant colonies becomes a criminal offence in many countries.
2) Some countries launch a campaign to exterminate the perceived threat.
3) There is a large outbreak of online conspiracy theories asserting that this is proof of the existence of aliens/Gods.
4) The person(s) who discovered ant colonies are intelligent becomes very famous and wins a lot of prizes.
5) Building things becomes more expensive due to the need to conduct surveys to ensure that no ant colonies are disturbed.
6) Special reservations are created where ant colonies can live free of human interference.
7) Computer games where you play as a simulated ant gain in popularity.
8) The UN tries to organise peace talks between warring ant colonies.
9) A large number of stories are written involving intelligent ant colonies.
10) A society for the promotion of the welfare of ants is formed
11) A lot of scientific research is diverted into trying to understand why ants colonies are intelligent, and how to communicate with them.
12) Companies that try to trade with ants lose money as it turns out that we don’t have much they want.
13) A lot of people refuse to believe that ant colonies are intelligent, and go on anti-ant protests claiming it is all a conspiracy.
14) The SETI program gets a large infusion of cash to hunt for other intelligences out there.
15) Intelligent ant colonies are able to grow faster, and go onto devastate many ecosystems.
16) Toy ants become one of the best selling toys.
17) Documentaries/non fiction books about ants become more popular.
18) A lot of people think ‘Oh that’s interesting’ - and then continue doing exactly what they would have done anyway.
19) Special jails have to be built to hold ant colonies that kill people.
20) It becomes illegal to keep ants as pets.
21) A movie with a totally unrealistic depiction of an ant colony as a hero wins the oscars.
22) It inspires a single love ‘Love our Ants’ which tops the charts for a record period of time.
23) A statue of an ant is put on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar square
24) Vegetarianism becomes more popular as some people start thinking other animals might also be intelligent.
25) Politicians make boring speeches about what this means about our place in the world, which are mostly ignored.
26) The US military gets a multi billion dollar budget for anti-ant super weapons, and the project goes hopelessly over budget.
27) Ant colonies become a convenient scapegoat for things like global warming.
28) It becomes illegal to keep ants as pets.
29) Ant colonies are given the vote in elections.
30) Ant colonies win an election as they outnumber the humans.
31) Ant colonies begin re-arranging the world to suit them.
32) There are a large number of anti-ant government protests.
33) Ant colonies decide that humans are an environmental menace and should be wiped out for the good of the rest of planet.
34) Ant colonies are able to use there numerical advantage to wipe the humans out.
35) Humans are able to use their advanced technology to make large ant colonies extinct.
36) Ants become temporarily the most googled keyword
37) Ant colonies inspire novel attempts to create AIs based on them.
38) Relations between different groups of humans becomes better as their differences looks small compared to their differences with ants.
39) People refuse to believe that ant colonies could be intelligent. It undermines trust in science, which is used by various special interest groups to undermine the scientific case whenever it is in their interests.
40) The number of people in prison increases as a lot of people are arrested for killing ants.
41) Fears that governments will ban pesticides that kill ants lead to people panic buying anti-ant pesticides.
42) Governments ban pesticides that could kill ants.
43) Reduced pesticide use leads to a drop in global food production.
44) Lack of food causes riots in several developing countries.
45) More people die of hunger.
46) Countries go to war over the lack of food.
47) School children are required to learn about ant colonies in school.
48) A campaign is launched to wipe out predators that could destroy ant colonies.
49) Zoos are no longer allowed to have ant colonies.
50) Zoos are no longer allowed to feed ants to their animals.
#41 seems like a sensible economic prediction, nice.
#18 is also probably, sadly, right.