Endosymbiosis
- I believe that, besides the classical Darwinian rules of variation and selection, a crucial role in evolution was played by endosymbiosis.
New organisms can be created by "merging" two existing organisms.
- If each organism is indeed made of smaller organisms, then it is not surprising that a Darwinian law governs each level of organization (immune system, brain, memory).
Each component organism "was" a living organism, and, like all living systems, was designed to live and die and evolve according to the rules of Darwinian evolution.
- The organism that eventually arose through the progressive accretion of simpler organisms is a complex interplay of Darwinian systems.
- Muscles, memory, the immune system and the brain itself share the same "vital"
principles. For example, they get stronger when used, weaker when not used.
- It is not only hair and nails that feel like independent organisms grafted
on our body. Every organ in the body seems to be an independent living organism
that has been connected to other living organisms to create a larger living
organism.
- Our body is an intricate patchwork of biological clocks, each one
controlling one of these "sub-organisms".
- If we are the result of the accretion of different organisms, we also
are the sum of all those organisms' worldviews.
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