>> Quite a story here, I see, of which I know only this poem. <<
I'm glad to hear that. You can find the others via the Serial Poetry page; there's a link above the poem. Scroll down to where it says "Queen Choufa and the Rebel Drones." The other poems have been sponsored and will appear presently.
>> I felt one jarring note in it, perhaps so only to me: How would they have the concept of, and word for, "civilized"? <<
They're in kind of a weird position, being social insects, because they already had the equivalent of cities long before they gained sentience. And they had the potential for sentience before they figured out that they didn't have to follow their instincts, they could make conscious choices now. They're just starting to figure out what that means for them. So the concept of civilization, which started out as something like "hive dynamics," is changing now to include something of deliberate decision-making.
Thank you!
I'm glad to hear that. You can find the others via the Serial Poetry page; there's a link above the poem. Scroll down to where it says "Queen Choufa and the Rebel Drones." The other poems have been sponsored and will appear presently.
>> I felt one jarring note in it, perhaps so only to me: How would they have the concept of, and word for, "civilized"? <<
They're in kind of a weird position, being social insects, because they already had the equivalent of cities long before they gained sentience. And they had the potential for sentience before they figured out that they didn't have to follow their instincts, they could make conscious choices now. They're just starting to figure out what that means for them. So the concept of civilization, which started out as something like "hive dynamics," is changing now to include something of deliberate decision-making.