What's a bug think? All the research, all the musing, all the Raid, DDT, flyswatter, Off aside, do we really, really, know what goes on in an insect's tiny head? Conventional wisdom holds that they, like most of the animal kingdom, are creatures of instinct.
Thus, a bee can make the most mathematically perfect structure for storing honey, has done so for thousands of years, and yet not one of them have ever cracked an engineering or architectural textbook. Inbred, hot-wired instinct is all that can explain such natural perfection. [For a fascinating review of the honeycomb's perfection and scientists who have proven same, see this article from Science News, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_4_156/ai_55553309].
Yet all living organisms share one common trait: we scurry from pain and hurry to pleasure. Humans use both instinct and mind to do this. Insects? Well, perhaps it is the instinct from the honeycomb example that similarly moves them. But note how the fly that sees it's about ready to be swatted flits away. This is MIND, not instinct, same as with humans.
If insects can process, through sight--or sound or touch or smell--information that its brain translates into action messages that its body responds to, is this not more than instinct?
And if this is true, is it likewise possible that that same mind might similarly process emotional impulses. Keep in mind that it is this feature that is commonly believed to be the exclusive province of mammalia, our beloved kingdom. Not reptiles, not birds, not fish or insects, only mammals--including Fido and Kitsy--are believed to be the only life that can feel joy, or sadness, betrayal or loyalty, fear or courage, love or hate.*
Who knows maybe that wasp following you around really doesn't like you after all. Maybe it's the fragrance you're wearing. Try "Eau de Bouse de Vache" instead!
Next installment coming up: "Did Nazis Pray?"
*Does it matter? In the long moral arc of the universe, I don't know. Certainly in the weighing process of immediacy I have no issue, spraying a silverfish on my carpet, or a fly in the kitchen. Believe it or not, I do pray for what soul may or may not be there, but I don't know if I do this to "cover my bases" with the God of us all, or just because I really do feel bad about taking a life. And I do feel this, I just don't feel it enough to keep me from enjoying my own selfish desire to be bug-free.
Perhaps then, respect for life is built on a ladder of degrees. Had I the respect for life, for the sake of life itself, I would therefore put the insect on the highest rung with fellow humans, and I would never kill it. Of course, fellow humans who I would rather not be in my home are generally not there. But what if a visitor came and overstayed their welcome. I mean, I wouldn't spray him with a can of Raid (note, I did not say "her" for such has unfortunately not been the case lately--or maybe that's a good thing).
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