4 ms·
> If one considers bacteria as living entities — and all biologists seem to — then it is impossible to explain why mitochondria are not. There seems to be a st
by debacle 2y ago
> If one considers bacteria as living entities — and all biologists seem to — then it is impossible to explain why mitochondria are not.
There seems to be a strange, half-hubris, half-pride vein that runs through Humanity that would see us as lesser for being hosts to benevolent bacteria, despite us very obviously being unable to survive without benevolent bacteria.
- jcims 2y agoI think it just attacks the wholeness of ‘self’ and starts to reveal the true complexity of nature.
- echelon 2y agoWe didn't evolve to understand "self", and indeed most animals do not. There was no evolutionary pressure to do so. We're having to discover it piece by piece.
- r14c 2y agoWe aren't driven solely by evolutionary pressure. We can (and have) developed cultures that can easily accept that humans are "just" part of a larger system, even having a unique role, without having to be superior. Our culture isn't like that, of course. We are obviously doing a good job of being "in charge" of the planet and definitely not charging headfirst into a mass extinction event with our collective eyes closed.
- shawnz 2y agoWe had evolutionary pressure to evolve self-preservation, and that stars with self, doesn't it?
- robertlagrant 2y agoEveryone knows we're already that. The importance of gut microbiome for one - cited loads.
- dist-epoch 2y agoUnable to survive without them is pushing it. When one takes strong antibiotics most of them die.