Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology

Lisa Margonelli investigates termites and their environmental and economic impact on human societies. Over a decade-long study, she explores termite mounds and research facilities, observing biologists, roboticists, and geneticists across locations including Namibia, Cambridge, Arizona, and Australia. Margonelli examines termites—creatures that collectively outweigh humans ten to one and consume $40 billion worth of materials annually—through multiple lenses: evolutionary theory, historical science literature, and the military industrial complex. She explores questions about whether termites function as individuals or as units of a superorganism, whether their properties could be harnessed for human benefit, and whether termite-like swarming robots could be developed and controlled. The book moves beyond natural history into personal exploration, raising questions about cognition, power, technology, and what it means to be human. Margonelli considers whether termites and humans share unexpected similarities and examines the unnatural future being built through technological advancement.