A guy's gut flora one day gained sapience. They built an empire inside his digestive system, and their civilization is expanding to other organs. They communicate with the Foundation, in Latin, by either Morse code (manipulating when the man blinks) or utilizing the cellulose he ingests to make a rudimentary paper where they write stuff, which is then sent through his mouth.
This is a summary of the idea. Please give feedback.
their civilization is expanding to other organs.
Which is presumably killing him? You could have a last-days-on-Krypton/global-warming-debate where a portion of the population fails to heed warnings that they are killing their host despite the Foundation confirming it?
Anyway I like this idea and I definitely think it can work.
Do you think an ending where the host dies and, consequently, their civilization could work, or is that unnecessary?
Even then, I would presume their resources are finite at that point. Bacteria grow exponentially because they reproduce asexually, so they'll just eat up the dead body faster and faster until there's not much left. In isolation, I'd give them a decently long time, maybe a year or so after the host dies. Would still be very interesting if you did make it a global warming debate analysis. Maybe, for the emotional gut punch, you have them finally realize that their philosophy is unsustainable, but only after their host is dead and it's too late. Seeing them get desperate via short written notes as their resources run low would be quite an effective way to pull that off, if you ask me.
I thought the bacteria in the gastrointestinal flora were different from bacterias that decompose dead tissue. If I'm not mistaken, the bacteria would die along with the host.
The main danger of ruptured intestines (besides the trauma that ruptured them in the first place), would be septic shock from your bowel culture getting to the rest of your body. Not all of these bacteria species would eat your body, but some will, and that's definitely enough to kill you. Not to mention that once you're dead, your skin stops regenerating, so outside bacteria can get through and quicken the job. As for the gut flora dying with you, that's not likely unless they starve, which most will not until your body is gone and they're just stuck in a containment cell with no food.
EDIT: Also, there are lots of the same species of bacteria that do a ton of different things, hence the term "strains" being tossed around so much. E. coli, for example. Some strains secrete toxins that make us sick. Some don't. Regardless, both can be found in our large intestine, and are a major reason why fecal contamination is dangerous.
Nice to know. I knew about how dangerous intestinal rupture is due to infections, but did not know about harmless E. coli. Also, their home being attacked by outside forces is similar to the end of the Roman Empire, which fits my plan (the civilization's culture will have some similarities to Rome)
Yes! Harmless strains of E. coli are actually the most studied organism in biology. They reproduce in about 10 minutes under good conditions, eat decently cheap agar, we've mapped their entire genome, and we can introduce an new gene into their genome by just squirting it into solution with a particular enzyme thanks to their external method of exchanging genetic material. That's how middle school kids can make glow-in-the-dark bacteria in an afternoon, and how pharma companies can make insulin without having to extract it from farm animal blood. Very interesting and helpful bacteria for sure. More than just food poisoning!
EDIT: Oops off topic there lol. I love the idea of comparing them to Rome. The Romans had one of the craziest civilizations in world history. Amazing how an empire built around one city thousands of years ago managed to influence the modern world to the degree that it has.
The main point of the article will be the collapse of their civilization, but I want to give some hints to their culture: bread and circus being a big reason for the host becoming unhealthy, their language being Latin, the emperor will be given the title of Caesar, etc.
Off topic: I read about how easy it is to make research involving E. coli, but I thought it was the dangerous strain.