The Ego Trick (baggini, Julian) / quote 13 of 254
Living things as hierarchies without central control
All living things, says Feinberg, are nested hierarchies. ‘At the lower levels of an organism are organelles that are combined to produce single cells that are in turn organised to produce tissues, which are then combined to produce organs that are ultimately organised to produce an entire living organism.’7 You may not understand the precise biological terms here (I don’t) but the principle is clear: ‘lower’ or ‘smaller’ elements are not separate from the larger, higher ones. Rather, they constitute those higher parts and are incorporated into them. So, unlike in a non-nested hierarchy, each level cannot be physically separated. Even more importantly, control does not come from the top down. Rather, the whole system puts constraints on what it can and can’t do and there is no single centre of control.