Humanity as a nature-like, altruistic “super-organism” — utopia or reality?
Question from the Internet:
“Could you imagine an organism that employs both cooperation and altruism? Explain.”
Fortunately, we do not have to go far to find an example. It is enough to look at our own biological bodies.
Without absolute altruism, constantly maintained mutually responsible, mutually complementing cooperation we could not exist even for a moment. It is a unique, “true, natural love” (selfless, unconditional service of others) that keeps our cells, organs together, facilitating a common flow, circulation, and communication that gives us the sense of life.
If we could experience life on the cellular level we would be shocked, gobsmacked by seeing the constant struggle, turmoil, seemingly chaotic fight for survival from moment to moment, but as we sense this on a higher, ‘systematic” level, above the whole intricately interconnected organism we experience our conscious life.
Now imagine if humanity would be able to form such a “multi-cellular” organism above and against our present, chaotic, selfish, individualistic, “cancer-like”, single-cell existence?! Imagine if we could perceive life through a unique mutual circulation, communication, collective intellect we could form by building “nature-like”, altruistic, “loving” mutually responsible, and mutually complementing interconnections!
And this is something realistic, tangible since this is exactly what evolution demands from us and our collective survival depends on right now! It is not a utopia. Without adapting ourselves to Nature’s perfectly balanced system, becoming similar to it in our mutual integration we have no right to exist in Nature’s lawful system!