• Touching antennae as a friendly greeting (brief touches in more casual/formal settings, longer and more information-rich touches among friends and loved ones)
  • Queens as revered philosophers/poets/mathematicians/etc. (critical to a hive’s survival so kept healthy and comfortable, lots of time spent sitting around pooping out eggs and probably wanting something stimulating to do, bodies not really suited for most physical activity)
  • Cities are half-buried arcologies that are dark and claustrophobic by human standards but resulted in strong institutional knowledge of engineering closed systems which means (if in an interstellar sci-fi setting) they contribute a lot to the galaxy’s orbital habitat/spaceship design
  • Children raised in communal creches by a class of dedicated workers, they don’t really have a “parental instinct” as we understand it but their childcare workers are the best you could ask for. They view the nuclear family as akin to a society where everyone has to build their own car in their garage instead of just taking a damn train
  • Their equivalent to the neolithic revolution was the rise of poly-queen societies, that is, polities that could organize around and maintain internal cohesion with multiple queens
      • CommunistCuddlefish [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        I got some friends to read it for a book club. Even the arachnophobes liked it. It’s that good. Its even better if you recognize the indisputable fact that spiders are very cute.

        I would skip the sequels, they aren’t that good, don’t focus on the spiders, and don’t add much of value.

        And while I’m gushing about bug books you may consider these books I recommended to Dort_Owl which I adore: https://hexbear.net/comment/6547556

        Basically Sherlock Holmes but very buggy. Also cute, and sweet, and melancholic, spooky, creepy, Gothic, and funny.