4 ms·
Always fun to see the term “super-organism” pop up. I was super fascinated with super-organisms back in college. I convinced myself that mankind counts as a s
by raydiatian 4y ago
Always fun to see the term “super-organism” pop up.
I was super fascinated with super-organisms back in college.
I convinced myself that mankind counts as a super-organism (although I’m sure experts might disagree, with reason). We’re an incredibly specialized bunch, the majority of us are utterly incapable of surviving without the tethers of civilization.
And I was super enamored with the notion that the internet was a central nervous system for this budding Homo sapiens super organism, and wanted to ask interesting questions like “is the super-organism intelligent?” To which the answer was “if we can learn from our mistakes.”
So I’m not so sure we’re an intelligent super-organism.
- ImHereToVote 4y agoWhat you have done, is simply added a symbol to a phenomena. What exactly does the symbol "super-organism" mean to you? Or to anyone for that matter? If it doesn't have a rigorous definition then it is simply a token that evokes an emotional reaction.
- raydiatian 4y agoI think it’s an accepted concept in the biology community. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superorganism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superorganism
- yamrzou 4y ago> What you have done, is simply added a symbol to a phenomena. Isn't that what we always do when we use language? To me a "super-organism" means seeing the whole instead of the parts. When I speak about myself, I don't say: my hands did, my feet walked. I say: I did, I walked. In my mind, I don't picture the multitude of cells composing my body as individual organisms, rather as parts of a single unit.