Richard
There are ants and there are ants. Around here we have little sugar ants that get into anything nice and sweet and make it uneatable. We use ant-rid on them. Then there are big bull ants that bite and sting like mad when you sit down on grass for a picnic. We pour petrol down the shafts to their nests and strike a match. Then there are white ants (termites) that if they get into the foundations of a structure eat it up from the inside until the structure collapses and becomes useless. We spray with pesticicides to protect our structures / homes.
I think your ant is a white ant and the Giants are merely being sensible and protecting a sound structure from being destroyed by pests.
After all only a pest would write this "There was still full employment for physicists," when there isn't; and many qualified physicists are forced to look elsewhere for any kind of a job. Just look at the BIO's for this competition.
Enrollments for physics and maths are declining. Biology is where the action is. Maybe the ant will be welcome there and not treated like a pest - but perhaps not; even biologists like untainted food, enjoy a picnic, and protect their homes from pests.
If the ant really wants to get into the Giants home, re-incarnation is the way. He should pray to come back as a Bull (like the one in a china shop) and then the Giants may not be able to stop him going anywhere he chooses - but watch out for physicists with sharp knives..
