Ecosystems

Ecosystems are something everyone learns about growing up, primarily in a biological context. I’m going to be talking about it more generally, and referring to it as any general interconnected system.

I’ve been curious about this topic because I see myself as a very independent person. I feel as if I do not need the support of others to find my way through life. I find myself rejecting assistance and support in most situations because I find myself fit to do a job on my own, whether it is studying for an exam, directions, or just finding a way to utilize my free time. Pretty much most things I feel I can do independently.

Often I like to just sit and think about the world around me, so when I listened to a podcast on the free trade movement it fueled my brain to take it further. The free trade movement was revolutionary because, people from different lands began to trade with each other freely. Each country had certain abundant resources and certain crafts they were more proficient at. Thus, they can specialize in their trade and what they produce more abundantly and efficiently. This way, both parties would benefit.

This was an ecosystem. Countries invested in scaling their trade, with the dependence on other countries demand for their goods. It was an interconnected system with parts that relied on each other to run smoothly.

Let’s rewind a few million years. This concept of reliance is evolutionarily rooted in us. It is the reason we have survived millions of years. Humans are largely classified into two types of sleeping patterns: early birds and night owls. Dating back to the hunter-gatherers, it made a lot of sense for there to be two types of patterns so that there would always be some form of protection.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the reason humans are successful is because we have learned to utilize the concept of ecosystems in so many facets of our society. For example, governmental infrastructure, taxes, technology, food, tourism, and so much more. We are able to drive on roads because we have a government. We are able to take flights because we have pilots that get paid to learn how to fly an airplane and safely and rapidly take passengers around the world. Using technologies such as Google Maps, Facebook, online taxis, laptops and smartphones work because the companies and consumers rely on each other to stay afloat. Even independent musicians can only afford to spend their time making music because we as consumers are willing to pay to have those artists continue producing more of their craft.

Just to drive home the point, I will stray from humans and look to trees. On the surface, they seem to be very independent, consuming energy through sunlight and exchanging nutrients with the soil without much interaction with anything else. So it seems. Trees are deeply rooted with one another underground and help each other grow when in proximity. In fact, a report came out recently classifying them as “superorganisms” because neighboring trees have been keeping a “zombie” tree alive by supplying water and other resources.

To summarize, this whole world is built on infrastructure that relies on humans cooperating and relying on each other. It is an incredibly large, invisible mesh of woven networks building this complex ecosystem that allows humans to live with more ease than ever before and has allowed for such a diversification of earning money. I no longer entertain the thought that I am independent. In fact, my life might nearly collapse if I was totally independent from the beginning. The concepts of goods and trading is taken for granted. It allowed for a whole new generation of economics founded by supply and demand to take control of our society.

I truly find it beautiful how we are able to take advantage of humans being able to communicate and produce goods that can benefit both parties. I am not insisting that there are not currently any holes in this ecosystem of specialized goods and trades that we have setup as a species, but it has been one of the largest reasons we have progressed so much as a society.

I am dependent. I am dependent on society. I am proud to live in a society I can depend on. I am happy to be a human.