Contemplation on global economy and society

Contemplate on the notion that our global economy is alive and can be likened to an animal.

Key insights:

• alive:
  • requires at least a constant flow of energy to sustain itself
  • emergent behaviour from a large number of smaller elements
  • arises, persists over a period of time, fades away / dies
  • referred to as a separate entity
  • under this definition are also alive:
    • trees, insects, animals, bacteria
    • tornadoes, typhoons, thunderstorms
    • ocean waves
    • rocks, mountains, mountain ranges, oceans
    • earth with all of its ecosystems
    • the sun and every individual planet and moon
    • solar system
    • universe
• cells:
  • humans
  • machines
  • infrastructure
    • buildings
    • pipes for water, sewage, gas
    • wires for electricity, communications
• circulation system: transport networks
  • function: a means to transport building blocks, energy and waste products across the body
  • blood vessels:
    • roads
    • railways
    • canals
    • air traffic corridors
  • blood:
    • ships, trucks, busses, aircraft, cars
    • fluids in various pipes
• digestive tract:
  • function: to provide energy and building blocks to the cells of the body to renew themselves and to dispose of (unusable) waste
  • mouth: mining industry, agriculture
  • stomach: smelting, distilling, chemical industry, food industry
  • colon: waste processing, waste recycling, sewers
  • in mammals there is just one digestive tract. In the economy these are all geographically separated. A more apt analog would be a fungus.
• digestion:
  • food / drink:
    • for energy: oil, gas, coal, wood, peat, grain
    • for building blocks: iron, copper, aluminium, zinc, gold, silver, water
  • poop: overburden, contents of junkyards and other waste disposal sites
  • pee: toxic fluids, sewage
• nervous system:
  • function: to communicate between seperate parts of the systems, to influence production or to signal satiation
  • telecommunications networks, internet, satelite links, gossip, message boards, television, radio, newspaper, theatre, music
• immune system:
  • function: when the body senses it is under attack, it responds with its immune system to eliminate, subdue or subvert its attackers
  • (popular) culture, media, politics, judicial and penal system, military
• cell specialization into organs: all types of organizations
• effect of lockdowns on this body: massive heart attack shutting large parts of the circulatory system down, accumulation of surplus at production sites, deprevation of goods where they are needed
• effect of peak energy extraction (2018) on the health of the body: parts of the body are not getting enough energy to renew cells. The body goes into starvation mode.

Needing further thought:

• Is a fungus a more apt analog? Mycelium shows some of the same patterns as our networks (roads, internet, infrastructure).
• How to create an offspring that will survive without being eaten or attacked by the host body? Interface like umbillical chord? How?
• Does the host body need to die before offspring is safe / viable?
• How does an embryo emerge? Is it already among us? How to keep it safe from the immune system?