Superorganic

Superorganic consideration has broadened the horizons and expanded the polysemies of biology in the past several decades. Perhaps the next revolution will involve trans-specific superorganic contemplation, although it is unclear now how discrete that would appear from present symbiotic or biospherical or eco-systematic formulations.

By most definitions homo sapiens qualifies as a superorganism. "A superorganism is an organism consisting of many organisms. This is usually meant to be a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labor is highly specialized and where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods of time."* The concept of survival in the preceding definition need not be warped excessively to apply to superorganic human survival. "Survival" can be taken in the straight-forward biological sense of maintaining individual bio-functions. Human bio-functions are far more complex than bio-functions of "lower" life forms--including physiological, psychological, sociological, rational, etc. When human bio-function is understood as a whole it is quite clear that individual humans cannot survive by themselves for extended periods of time without serious damage to their bio-functions--especially where they lack the tools of the colony.

Take it as a fact, take it as a useful metaphor, it does not matter. What matters is the unique light the superorganic lens sheds on our place within humanity. In the superorganic whole, what is the eusocial role that we humanists collectively play? If humankind were a human body, what organ would we wish to be? What is the role that each of us, individually plays? If humankind were a human body, what kind of cell would you want to be?

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* Wikipedia, "Superorganism"