Scrutinizing Humanity In Bruce Sterling's 'Swarm'

136 Words1 Pages
Bruce Sterling uses his short story, Swarm, as a cautionary tale in order to scrutinize humanity through his speculative ‘what if’ premise; what if humans are not superior? The assumptions the main characters, Captain-doctor Simon Afriel and Dr. Galina Mirny, make about the insectoid alien race lead to their demise. They believe that Swarm will not notice their pheromone experiments because according to Dr. Mirny “they’re not intelligent” (Sterling 280). This, however, is not the case. Their plans are discovered and the intelligent alien caste, Swarm, is reborn. Swarm not only stops them, but forces the doctors to submit to the aliens. It is through this that Sterling proves that humans are not as smart as they think they are and would do better