Thinking about symbiosis is itself a symbiotic phenomenon
Just the complex process of thought—oxygen enters the bloodsteam to be metabolized by mitochondria, etc.—means that thinking is itself a symbiotic event.
Our brains themselves and the thought required to read this sentence, if my radical symbiogenesis theory is correct, were made possible by the protein microtubules that first evolved in bacteria. Even if research shows my spirochete hypothesis to be untrue, thinking about symbiosis is itself a symbiotic phenomenon. The oxygen we breathe enters the brain from our bloodstream and is incessantly metabolized by the mitochondria that we know are former respiring bacteria. Whether or not spirochete wrigglers are at the core of our being, we remain symbiotic beings on a symbiotic planet. —Lynn Margulis, Symbiotic Planet
- previously: we are collaborative compound organisms, coordinating the task of living together
- see also: at every level we are a web of interdependencies