Recently, I came across reports of some medical studies about the dermatological condition called rosacea. (I think the studies themselves are fairly recent; here’s a summary.)

The gist of these studies: possible connections, even correlations, between rosacea and the presence on the skin of a common type of mite, and the bacteria that the mite carries in its gut.

Of course, dermal mites don’t (as we understand them) have anything like conscious intent — even less so, the bacteria they carry. But imagine, if you will, that these tiny creatures are conscious enough at least to know that they can get something from human beings that they can get nowhere else — something needed not just to survive, but to flourish. Imagine that they have evolved and are shrewd enough to learn that they can pull even more of this something from us than is available merely on the surface. Imagine the horror when a human host discovers this, begins swatting at its face, douses itself with pharmaceutical and cosmetic substances, trains lasers at itself…

…imagine the fury, the hatred in the human host, then, when it learns that none of these superficial “treatments” helps; they seem, in fact, to make things even worse. How might the human host respond, finally?

And now: picture the Earth, and billions of creatures swarming across it…

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