Wilson is the world's expert on the social insects--ants, bees, and termites--and he tries to awaken his readers to the ways society depends upon human nature by describing a hypothetical intelligent species descended from termites rather than primates. He imagines a state-of-the-colony address from a leader to the multitude:

Ever since our ancestors ... achieved ten-kilogram weight and larger brains during their rapid evolution ... and learned to write with pheromonal script, termitic scholarship has elevated and refined ethical philosophy. It is now possible to express the imperatives of moral behavior with precision. These imperatives are self-evident and universal. ... They include the love of darkness and of the deep, saprophytic, basidiomycetic penetralia of the soil; the centrality of colony life amidst the richness of war and trade with other colonies; the sanctity of the physiological caste system; the evil of personal rights (the colony is ALL!); our deep love for the royal siblings allowed to reproduce; the joy of chemical song; the aesthetic pleasure and deep social satisfaction of eating feces from our nestmates' anuses after the shedding of our own skins; and the ecstasy of cannibalism and surrender of our own bodies when we are sick or injured (it is more blessed to be eaten than to eat).