A long time ago a man got the idea to clear some land and build a house. This was a good idea, because up until then he had been living like the beasts, whose only food was berries and grubs and whose only shelter was the trees. He thought: “I could use those trees.” But the biggest and straightest trees were far away, so he set to thinking how to bring them home as lumber. Looking down, he noticed a line of ants carrying bits of food and wood. The ants would stop briefly to talk to each other along the way. He thought: “I could use those ants.” But they were very small and couldn’t carry large loads and it would take them forever to bite through trees with their little jaws. Besides, they seemed to be about their own business and he had no idea how to get them to work for him. So, he set to thinking again how to accomplish his purpose.

Now, there were other people living in the land, but they were not so well organized as the ants. The man began to talk to the other people and they began to talk to each other and pretty soon they all had the idea to build houses and settle down and dig up the earth to grow some food. But the best trees for building were still far away and too heavy for one person, and digging was a lot of work, so the man said: “Let us work together.”

After some years, life had changed. The man now had a steady line of people doing his bidding day and night. With their help he had factories and trucks, tractors and ships coming and going at his service. He had computers and machines that would do exactly what he told them. He had the biggest, fanciest house and the most lands, while his faithful “ants” had smaller dwellings and some had only tiny shacks or none at all. But together they all had civilization.

He had the cleverest words, which they believed, and they were content to help him because now nearly everyone had a better life and no longer lived like the beasts. What’s more, they had the promise that they too, with hard work, could have a line of “ants” serving them.

Meanwhile, all the big trees had been cut down and all the good earth paved over to make the civilization. Though he had a thousand times more to eat than needed, the man could imagine nothing better than getting even more. While the whole world was like a factory at his fingertips, the man was curiously obsessed with trying to make machines that behave like real ants—or better—like people so smart he couldn’t control them. As all the forest was being used up, he couldn’t imagine what to do with his lines of ant-people, except to have them start taking apart their own houses and shacks and gardens and carry the boards and furniture and food to his house, making him even richer. Still, the people thought: “This is the land of opportunity; if our leader can rise to greatness, so can we!” What the real ants thought of all this no one knows.