Hail to Our Insect Masters!

A WORLD ruled by giant insects, with the last remnants of the human race as slaves, is one of the favorite devices of one school of fiction writers.

Fantastic? Not at all. Thoughtful scientists recognize that as one of the possible endings for our civilization. In fact, all past history indicates that when, and if, the present civilization comes to an end, it will die because of an unsolved food problem, and that insects will be a contributing factor, and hence may be the survivors.

Gigantic animals once roamed the earth, and perished because of climatic changes and food shortage. It is equally probable that there will be another glacial era, upsetting all food and living arrangements, and that the human race will virtually perish. Because many species of insects have, next to man, the most highly developed social instincts, they would appear to be the logical successors.

Remove the competition of man and the higher forms of animal life in the food market, and there is a possibility that the present minute insect life might develop to gigantic proportions, until a recurring food problem again wiped them out.

So reads an article from the December 1930 edition of Modern Mechanics: “Will Monster Insects Rule the World?” by Jay Earle Miller.

Thanks to the Modern Mechanix website (Yesterday’s Tomorrow Today), you can see the whole article, both scanned from the original (with pictures) and transcribed.

• Source: Modern Mechanics via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery