Lewis Thomas On Societies As Organisms

Humans generally hold a cynical perception of ants carrying some dust and crawling on a negligible distance in a courtyard. However, that is one small task for an insect, but one giant leap for the building of the nest. Like social insects, men working together sets up a whole fascinating mechanism. Everyone plays a role in the global society, and one citizen is not microscopic among billion others, as it may be thought. To reinforce that theory, the persuasive essay entitled “On Societies as Organisms”, written by Lewis Thomas, argues that human societies have much to learn from the communal accomplishments of other life forms. Using various rhetorical patterns, such as analogy, enumeration of processes and figurative language, the author

By listing down enough accurate examples to prove his thesis, Thomas presents a clear structured and logically organized essay. For instance, the essay focuses on the steps of building “the Hill”, a collective process that consists in using the efficient group thinking to develop knowledge (233-34). Starting with a unique ant and adding others one by one, Lewis Thomas clearly illustrates the progressive creation of the organism (233). It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the different animals’ way of living and working as an entity, since humans are part of an organism as well. Additionally, Thomas’ description of the beehive’s construction and organization to expand the family is relevant to provide basic knowledge on the subject while reinforcing Thomas’ authority on the topic. Bees form a communal intelligence that builds “symmetrical polygons” and spreads out their “family genome” when half of the members are led by the new queen (234-35). According to Thomas, this collaboration and transmission of information is also observed in the men’s activities. Thus, this other detailed explanation provides a logical reason to the author’s thesis. In short, the processes are effectively used, along with scientific terminology, to present the similar procedures mankind and other life forms daily

From the beginning, the researchers’ crowd is described as a mass of insects, “[swarming]” and creating a “vibrating, ionic movement” (232). The use of visual and kinetic imagery ingeniously inspires the readers and immediately sets up the principal analogy of humans acting like social insects in an organism. Likewise, the “blackening” of the soil by “[fumbling] and [shoving]” ants as they collaboratively build the nest enhances the text by increasing the reader’s interest (233). Moreover, the termite nest’s “architecture” may impress some readers, as the enthusiastic author glorifies the “artists” that erect “beautiful, curving, symmetrical arches” of the nest (234). The comparison of mankind with insects then seems obvious (or acceptable for unwilling readers), since similes successfully picture appealing images in our brain of the organism’s impressive effectiveness.

In a nutshell, Lewis Thomas, in his opinion essay “On Societies as Organisms”, claims that human societies are built on the same concept of organism as the social insect communities, by judiciously appealing to the readers with analogies, enumeration and metaphors. Finally, since a reliable connection between social insects and men has been established, the following interrogation might arise: what are the negative aspects of this