This is another short story by Asimov that has a very interesting chilling concept that I know couldn't be the truth--could it?
A scientist believes that the human race is nothing more than bacteria that is studied by long-lived (alien) beings. We are nothing but bacteria in a microscope to them, but they must keep us contained, just as we must contain all bacteria and viruses in our laboratories.
Each time a civilization's pursuit for knowledge grows to an extensive degree, these "beings" force a war among us to create such havoc, that all intelligent advances are lost.
One scientist gives out that is why all past great societies burn out at their greatest degree of strength and awareness. I have always wondered about these great empires and why they fall at their strongest--though I believe it's the death of a powerful leader, and no one to take his place that cause the great collapses.
The good news for the earth's populace is that the suicidal scientist helps create a barrier against warring enemies and thus help the bacterias (humans) escape the lab.
This story reminds me greatly of The Forgotten, a movie with Julianne Moore. In the film, we are all just lab rats for a race of aliens that play with our emotions and taking away or changing the people in our lives. No one can remember what happened before, except Moore can remember her son, and nothing the aliens do to her can change that.
Humans are at the top of the food chain, and there would be a great horror to realize we are at the bottom--no more important than a stain on a microscope.
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