[whycome]

Ants are aliens aren't they. Or at least we might be more likely to find antlike creatures if we do find extraterrestrial life.

[pavlov]

"Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an excellent sci-fi novel that also includes ants that were uplifted by a human terraforming experiment.

They're interesting semi-aliens because the colonies are incredibly capable in many respects but ultimately lack self-awareness, which leaves the ants open to manipulation by other uplifted species that are capable of motivated planning. The ants become like biological technology for the other species.

[Qem]

> Ants are aliens aren't they.

That reminds me of Phase IV. It's like an alien invasion movie, but with ants instead: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070531/

[tracerbulletx]

Arthropods would probably think we were the aliens considering their taxonomic dominance of Earth since the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion.