(This is Part 8 in a series. Go back to Part 7.)
Because of the "small-world" or highly-connected quality of natural networks, when they begin to break down they do so gradually at first. As the scientists say, natural networks "degrade gracefully." As an example, if parts of the brain become damaged, normally the brain manages to rewire its connections and keep itself going, even though it may not be optimal.
In general, a degrading network is still able to maintain itself for awhile as its signals become more congested and as its "diameter"—the average number of steps for one node to reach another across the network—begins to increase.
Often, the way we humans deal with degrading networks is to attack the symptoms rather than respond wisely to the causes. For instance, when a human body is beginning to "degrade"—that is, it's showing signs of fatigue, allergies, "colds," etc.—we usually deal with the symptoms. We take "stimulants," "anti-histamines," "cold remedies," etc.
Of course, none of these remedies have anything to do with the cause—the increasingly toxic state of the network—and so, even though the symptoms are temporarily relieved, the overall toxic state of the body continues to increase. And so too, long-term, increasing symptoms of disease appear.
As toxins and pollutants accumulate in the body they gradually begin to overwhelm it, with the result that disease begins to appear. The network is degrading. As this process advances, the body can manifest various degenerative conditions or diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, intestinal inflamation and so on, depending on the particular body and its history.
As a body toxifies, we may not be able to say what the particular disease will be or when it will appear, but in a system where only symptoms and not causes are being addressed, we can say with confidence that the underlying disease process is continuing to progress.
Attacking symptoms has a "battle" quality about it. We say that we're going to "wipe out" the germs, "destroy" the terrorists, "get rid of" agricultural pests, "win the war" on cancer, "eliminate" corporate malfeasance, etc. Meanwhile, since all of these things are only symptoms, the underlying disease process continues to advance.
The crucial thing to know about natural self-organizing networks is that they can only repair themselves. No external "forcing" agent can heal a network. It self-organized itself and it must heal itself. All we can do is stop doing harmful things to the body and then provide the conditions where self-healing can occur.
Continuing with our example of the body, external drugs, radiation, surgury, "stimulants," procedures, etc. cannot fundamentally heal a body. The body can only heal itself. It is its own healer, and fundamentally, it is the only healer of itself.
In providing the conditions for allowing the body to heal itself of its toxins and degraded performance, what we leave out is far more important than what we put in. It is not necessary to take in special herbs, minerals, magic foods/mixtures or anything else in order for the body to heal itself. Indeed, it is highly likely that such agents will just get in the way and increase the body's burden.
What is desirable is to begin to leave out the cooked fats and oils, the synthetic and highly-refined pseudo-foods, the additives, salts, refined sugars, pesticides, animal proteins, dairy and other substances that are congesting and polluting the body. If instead a low-fat diet of fresh fruits and vegetables is adopted, the body will naturally begin to cleanse and heal itself.
That is, the body knows what to do. We don't have to tell it or direct it or nudge it or stimulate it in what to do—all such things are counter-productive. It is a natural self-organizing network and it knows what to do to heal itself if healing is still at all possible.
This same principle holds true for any natural self-organizing network.
Our degrading planetary ecology is an example. If we want to allow the planet to heal itself, we humans must get out of the way as much as possible. We must study how to fit in to nature as much as possible, to "leave a light footprint on the earth."
For instance, we need to reduce the amount of toxins that we're adding to the earth each day—everything from the CO2 in burning fossil fuels to the pesticide run-off from farms. We must stop de-populating various nodes of the network, everything from clear-cutting of forests to overfishing the oceans to the extinctions of species. All of nature's sub-networks are vital and add to the robust quality of the overall ecology.
And of course, we must do whatever we can to reduce our birthrates to sustainable levels, because our high human population exacerbates every other challenge involving the congestion and degrading of the network we call life on earth. We need to address the issue of sustainability everywhere we can, from our modes of transportation to our ways of obtaining energy to our excess packaging of almost everything.
In other words, we need to find sustainable ways of conducting business, living life, using energy, producting waste and so forth. Our economic systems will have to include an accounting of the immense services that the ecology provides, so that the market can accurately reflect the true prices of our various human goods and services, so that our economic choices will automatically support the overall ecology.
If we do these things, if we "provide the conditions" for healing and cleansing, then the overall network that we call "nature" will begin to heal itself. And then, as we see ourselves not as a lord over nature but as part of its inter-linking networks, which include the smallest creatures and processes, we'll be a part—hopefully a chasened and humble one—of that healing process.
This is the end of Part 8. Go to Part 9.)
—jim sloman, 12.9.02 for 2.9.03
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