This ambitious, agenda-setting study considers the origins of sociable life from a microontological perspective. More specifically, it suggests ways of engaging with bacteria in other-than pathogen characterization. We know much more about living organisms "big-like-us" than we do about those organisms which originated life on Earth and sustain the biosphere through complex symbiotic and recycling relationships. This book details scientific research on bacterial capabilities such as perception, communication, community organization and symbiosis. It critically analyzes evolutionary theories about the development of the species (including neo-Darwinism, epigenetics and symbiogenesis). It also draws on bio-philosophical discussions of sexual difference, identity, environmentalism and ethics, providing a transdisciplinary framework with which to engage the social and natural sciences together to recognise bacterial liveliness in structuring social relations.