V
THE COLOURFUL GARDEN
The manifold forms and kinds of performance
within an enterprise can somehow be attributed
to the relation between the return from factors
and the use of factors. This relation is a relation
of
productivity. By making it the starting point of our
analysis of the production process we more or less
reduce our research to the core function of industrial
production.
Gutenberg (1951)
1
All vivid nature with all of its animals and plants is similar to a colourful garden. Similarly, the entire human economy with all its innumerable employment structures is like a colourful garden. If we pursue our usual way of thinking, these two "gardens" have nothing to do with each other. According to the energon theory, however, there are not two gardens: there is only one.
On the surface the economy as well as vivid nature seem to be edifying and peaceful. Here and there abilities and productive and busy activity develop. However, things are different, if we make a closer examination. In both cases the colourful garden in reality is a battlefield. In both cases the individual partners in employment, these "brothers" and parts of the same stage of development are enemies in a bitter battle. If one of them shows his weakness, the other one seizes his position. Between some of them there are alliances for mututal protection – but not so much out of kindness as of self-interest. Human emotions – which are so important for our "ego", but inappropriate as far as a valuation of the world is concerned – are no criteria for the assessment of these processes. The life flow has as it were millions of tentacles, indeed it does not consist of anything else. They blaze like flames and often they devour one another.
It is not that every "tentacle" threatens existence of the others. The predatory energon threatens its prey, but – as we have seen – predators and prey necessarily achieve an equilibrium. If the predatory species destroys its prey, it destroys itself. Much worse is a combat between "rivals", aiming at one and the same prey. But here, too, there is not necessarily a rivalry between the groping tentacles.
In the professional sector the work of a doctor or a tailor does not interfere with the activity of a baker. In the "garden" of plants and animals it is just the same. The activity of the lions does not disturb that the worms, the activity of the fir trees does not interfere with the activity of the viruses.
In commerce and business we distinguish between "homogeneous" and "heterogeneous" competition. For suppliers of chickens not only other suppliers of chicken are competitors, but also suppliers of geese and ducks and even of beef. In the carneval season fancy-dress balls reduce the number of cinema tickets sold and the sale of popcorn and coke in cinemas. Indirectly, one supplier takes profit away from the other, i.e. he influences an area of tension where there is otherwise a greater demand. In the kingdom of animals and plants there are also many forms of indirect impairment. If parasites spread, disturbing the breeding of a particular species, then they simultaneously impair the "market" of all predators which live on fully-grown animals of this species. Where the curtain fig (a plant, which climbs on plants and suffocates them) spreads, it destroys the source of energy for all plant-eaters which live on these kinds of trees1.
In commerce and business, structures of very different sizes are often competitors at the same source of acquisition. Ice cream is produced by tiny professional entities (the proprietor and his wife, an apprentice, a shop, a few ancillary means), but is also produced by large industrial corporations. In the sea tiny fish live on the same plankton as bearded whale. In both cases the large energon is (mostly) not able to displace the small one. The larger one functions in a more economical way and it has considerably more power. But (most of the time) it is not able to reach the entire source of acquisition. There is enough space in between to guarantee a livelihood even for the smaller competitors2.
All acquisition structures which are created by human beings need resources for their growth. Economic corporations either buy raw material (and the energon integrates them in its structure by itself), semi-finished products or functional units which are ready to be used (e.g. machines or a new labour force). When it comes to organisms, the situation is no different. In the form of water, gas or salt, etc., they gain raw material. In the form of stolen molecules they gain semi-finished products, e.g. eaten proteins are not broken down completely, but only up to the amino-acids – and with these the organism produces its own proteins. It rarely happens that finished products can be acquired. The hermit crab acquires the empty snail shell, some snails which eat coral polyps integrate the nematocysts of these polyps in their own system of defence. Ocasionally also assistants (organisms) are won, for example in all forms of symbiosis.
An interesting difference between artificial organisms and animals and plants is that enterprises also are able to acquire "recipes". They can buy them as a patent or by employing professionals in order to rent their expertise. They can use the entire scientific literature for the free acquisition of recipes. Plants and animals are not yet able to do so. This possibility – which lead to an immense increase of power within the life flow – was created by the "acquisitive tentacle" human being.
Are these superficial parellels and trivial differences?
From the perspective of evolution certainly not: whether a bird has this
appearance or that, whether an organism stays in the same place or is swimming
around with flippers is no absolute criterium for its capacities or its
biological value. These are minor points which only impress our senses
and our brain. However, connections which can be found in all groups of
energons bring us a lot closer to the nature of these structures and to
the problems which were and are decisive for the "to be or not to be" of
each of these "tentacles".
2
The key has to reach the keyhole. If the keyhole gets to the key by itself, the key can stay in place, otherwise it has to be mobile, it has to be able to find the moving keyhole.
If the keyhole is defenceless (like the leaf of a plant which stays in one place), then contact of the key with the keyhole is sufficient. There is no essential obstacle to the acquistion process. When, however, the keyhole is able to defend itself and does so (as, for example, when an animal flees or bites, or when a customer has no intention whatsoever to buy a product someone is trying to palm him off with), then certain measures of pursuit or fighting become necessary.
In our usual way of thinking it is hard for us to compare the teeth of a predatory fish with the cries of a street vendor. Such comparisons have already been made quite often – but more because they are amusing than in order to get closer to the truth. On a functional level, however, these connections are more important than the external difference between a fish and a street vendor. Looked at from the perspective of the life flow – and in the end this is the only valid criterium – the external differences are irrelevant, trivial. What is really relevant is the functional power, the result. The appearance of the individual tentacles of the life flow is of no importance, and in principle does not affect their competitive capacity. However, the fact that the key has to fit in the keyhole affects the competitive capacity.
The productiveness of the source of acquisition can vary. In the evening the leaves of plants are filled with sugar and protein; during the night they are mainly busy transporting these materials to consumers and storage places; in the morning the leaves are exhausted. Consequently they go much further when eaten in the evening than in the morning. In spring the young leaves are soft, full of nutriments, poor when it comes to cellulose; in autumn the stroma is predominant. The larva of the leaf miner in spring only need two to three days from egg to pupation, in autumn they need a few weeks. For a prostitute acquisition is much easier after dinner than, for example, in the morning; also the period at the beginning of the month is much better for acquisition than at the end of the month. Is this really not comparable, inessential? From the perspective of the life flow it is unimportant whether an acquisition tentacle looks like a leaf miner or like a prostitute. It is essential however that these energons periodically have to deal with varying sources of acquisition – and they have to be attuned accordingly. From the perspective of the energon what causes these variations is not important, as that is not a factor which affects the competitive capacity.
In both cases there are sources of acquisition which are unusable for a longer period or become inaccessible. This requires reserves for the size of which there exist optimal values. It is very important for such energons to reach this optimal size. If the reserves are too big, then this is superfluously bound capital – which reduces the competitive value. When they are too small, the risk becomes too high – which reduces the competitive value just the same. The best balance can be found in the average variations in the periods without possibilities of acquisition. These values, too, are important in order to be able to determine the competitive capacity.
Another solution is closure. Winter sport hotels are closed in the summer, in the winter the marmot "hibernates". By these measures the regular costs are lowered to a minimum. The optimal average value for necessary reserves is thus reduced.
A third solution lies in an additional acquisition activity on order to compensate for the loss in hard times. The ice cream vendor rents his shop out to a trader of coals, songbirds fly thousands of kilometres to another place of acquisition. To overcome flat periods many enterprises include additional products in their production programme. A prerequisite for this kind of "reserves" are additional structures and recipes which allow such changes. In this, organisms are dependent on genetic blueprints; in human acquisition structures, being able to get rid of certain parts and gain entirely different ones, the development of these blueprints is very sophisticated. "Flexibility", "adaptability", "flexible structures", "ease in changing structures", in short "elasticity of the enterprise": in modern industry – facing rapidly changing markets – all of these blueprints count as particularly important competitive factors.
Something new was brought into the world by human beings: the anticipation of death and provision for old age. As far as the life flow of plants and animals is concerned, such provision was neither important nor was it an advantage. If an animal or a plant loses its acquisitive power, it also loses its right to be because it inhibits further development. Human beings, who otherwise are a prime example among the energons, in this point rebel against "highest interests". We are born with the ability to experience fear; in addition we have foresight which comes from intelligence. The result are unnecessary reserves which are useless from the perspective of the life flow – and equally from the point of view of economy3.
The large community facilities for the provision of old
age (retirement, insurance, private insurance) are in this regard of considerable
importance for economy and the life flow. By combining functions this way
it becomes possible to get by with a much smaller amount of blocked capital.
In addition, the state or any civil law facility is able to refer a large
part of the amount which is paid for these insurances back to economy –
and thus to the entire flow of development – by means of safe investments.
3
An essential aspect is the concentration of the source of acquisition per unit of area and time. How productive is it? How much energy and material can be won from it on average at a certain point? How long does the source need to restore its "capacity"?
When we ask these questions, a problem becomes evident which affects every energon equally – without exception.
Most plants on land do not suffer any shortage of sunlight; for them the limiting factors consist in the acquisition of materials which are necessary for the acquisition of energy as well as climatic circumstances. Accordingly we distinguish "good" and "bad soil". It is possible to determine at an experimental level – and such experiments have been done abundantly – how many "organic substances" a certain kind of plant can produce in a certain location. In principle we could develop a world map for every kind of plant with the average amount of production per area: on the one hand for the situation where there is no competition (e.g. if competition was removed in an artificial way), and on the other hand for the competitive situation at a certain site. The richest soils (or waters) could be marked with darker colours, those with lower average values in lighter colours. The areas where a certain kind of energon is not able to perform any acquisition activity are white – that is, there where this key does not find a matching keyhole.
A similar map can be made for every animal species in water or on land - and also for every "kind" of business organisation. The more "prey" or the more "need" there is in a given area, the "darker" the colours of the concerned area for these species.
What has to be investigated in this case is the average potential with which the respective kind of energon has to deal with – a specific, energetic area of tension.
In 1935 in Silesian meadows almost ninety thousand individual animals were found on a surface of one square metre(up to a depth of 25 cm) (mites, springtails, enchytraeides, threadworms and rainworms, snails, isopods and spiders) were found. Protozoa were not included; there could be about 100,000 in one milligram of soil. For sea animals the best areas are those where warm and cold streams meet (like the Dogger Bank or the Galapagos islands). The consequence is a never ending flow of dying organisms (which cannot cope with the variation in temperature): a never ending source of food. Immense numbers of small living creatures gather around this easily accessible source, larger ones live on them and even larger ones subsist on those.
Some trees – in particular elms – secrete nutritious sap at places where the trunk is injured. Also large numbers of organisms (bacteria, mushrooms, worms, mites) and others gather around these so-called "synuses", which in turn hunt them.
In the area of human economy large cities or places of pleasure are zones of similar productivity. The more human beings frequent a particular spot – and the more money, i.e. available surplus they have their pockets – the more productive – and thus the more valuable – this place becomes for supplying energons. And here again there is a good field of activity for the employment bodies, which are specialised hunters.
If these optimal zones are the same for several energons,
this acts like an avalanche for further optimal zones for other kind of
energons. Each exploiter itself is another possible source for exploitation.This
is the same in the kingdom of organisms as in the economy4.
4
Some sources flow spasmodically, but when they flow they provide a sudden and large possibility of acquisition. For energons which gain access to such sources it is important to use this rare opportunity as well as possible. Whether it is an organism or a human acquisition structure: the problem which results is the same.
In the gastronomic sector this problem occurs during holidays when there is an increased demand for free rooms or meals. Then the question is: what is the maximum numbler of people who can be accommodated and fed? This problem occurs also in industrial corporations when there is suddenly a high demand for their products. In this case it becomes important that, expressed in economic terms, a "capacity reserve" is available. A certain "elasticity" concerning services offered by the business enterprise can lead to an major increase of the degree of suitability and of competitive capacity. "Adaptability" is of considerable importance here.
A python is able to devour an entire goat or wild boar because of its special ability to expand its jaw or stomach. Some deep-sea fish are able to swallow other fish which are bigger than they are themselves.The leech is able to take in all at once an amount of blood up to ten times its own weight. These are examples for solutions of the same problem in the animal kingdom.
Spiders save up and store surplus prey by spinning a web
around it; many animals hide parts of their prey in the earth. In these
cases digestion is postponed. If the producer succeeds in tying the demanders
to his own product (which gives him some sort of monopoly position), than
he has the possibility to put them off if there is an overly great demand
because of longer delivery periods. In this case too, a spasmodically available
source of acquisition is secured, and also in this case the actual acquisitive
acttivity is performed with some delay.
5
In economics the "turnover" is very important. The supplier of bread – in relation to the working capital of his enterprise – has a large turnover and thus can work with a low profit margin. The antique dealer selling old paintings or the distributor of jet airplanes, however, make a sale much less often.. Therefore the real profit has to be higher in order to secure a livelihood for this type of energon.
With animals this is no different. For example the earthworm has a big turnover with a low profit margin. It shovels large amounts of soil through its body; the amount of organic material in this soil which is useful for the earthworm is relatively low. But since there are large amounts of soil at its disposal, this kind of activity still is profitable. Also feeding on algae and mud "requires much food to cover the need". In the case of the cup-and-saucer limpet which lives in our creeks and rivers it was determined that while feeding it excretes 110 times per hour; its excrement in the form of small sausages reach a total length ten times that of its own body5. Twelve minutes are sufficient for this energon to transport the food through its intestine.
The tick, which subsists on the blood of animals, carries off such concentrated food that one single successful acquisition activity can be sufficient for its entire life. In economics, money, gold and jewelry are particularly concentrated vehicles of energy. The thief who succeeds in stealing large amounts of this booty has not actually acquired enough for a lifetime – but nevertheless for a long period.
It is clear that each of these extreme examples of acquisition
presents special functional conditions for the individual energons. These
are, in all cases, the same. The energon which depends on a large turnover
always has to be at the source of acquisition, it has to "work on it" tirelessly.
The energon which is specialised on concentrated acquisition has to be
able to wait. What matters in this case is not that this is a steady activity
which should be performed as efficiently as possible, but that it is a
single activity which is successful, no matter what it costs.
6
To gain access to any protected source requires a certain strategy and suitable weapons. Most animals are born with both – the human acquistion structures mostly have to acquire both. For the energon this difference is of no importance. It is merely important that the energon disposes of the necessary structures – tools – and the necessary behavioural norms - techniques.
The best strategy is in both cases to obtain control over the co-ordination centre of the prey. If this is successful, all measures for protection and defence measures lose their value.
If the anger fish moves the worm-shaped end of its fin across its mouth, then the prey is acquired by this activity. An innate mechanism of reaction in the brain of the other fish is activated – "deceived". The end of the fin evokes aggressive behaviour, "they take it for food", attack it – and end up in some stomach or other.
In this and similar ways, predators turn the functional units of their prey into their own. This way they break through the protective mechanisms of the others ,thus leading them to their doom.
Intelligent human beings use many more such "deceptions". In each of these cases (swindling, misusing the power of the state misleading competitors, ruse of war), innate or acquired reactions are used, an energon gains power over the co-ordination centre of an opponent.
Also in forms of acquisition by exchange this techniqu is applied in every way one can think of. The exchange partner is deceived and taken in – that means: he does what he actually does not want to do. The highest form of this weapon is advertising, which aims at opening up a market. Nowadays this weapon influences human beings – in an entirely legal way. If the human being influenced is at the centre of a professional entity or of a company, then this weapon, so to speak, aims at the core of the core. In acquistion structures human beings are the control centre, within this centre it is the central nervous system which is in control. And this most important and vulnerable point is attacked.
In extremely complicated ways – they have been well described by Vance Pakkard6 - parts of these complex mechanisms are influenced. The conscious "I", which is the top command post, is avoided at all costs. It is often suspicious and defensive. The target of the influence is the parliament of drives the power of which is often not acknowledged by the I – or the I does not want to admit that power. There, in this babble of voices of instincts and habits, new "calls" and opinions sneak in. In these "subordinate" centres, which to a large extent are not accessible to the conscious part of the mind, associations are made which later lead to very specific decisions. There wishes are evoked which allow for wishful constructions being developed within the large projection room of "imagination". Camouflaged as information, as friend and helper, this kind of advertisement begins to direct the inner parliament and to work against some coalitions while developing new ones. The influenced human being thus becomes subject to manipulation. He is convinced that he wants what he wants – and he is wanted.
This turns him into a "demander" – to the interest of others. Just like the prey of the angler fish which goes for the bait and ends up in the angler’s stomach, the person who is manipulated to feel a want comes voluntarily in order to perform an exchange and acquires something he does not really want and has never wanted. Since only a part of his potential ends up in the stomach of the producer he usually does not realize this. Besides, he does not want to admit it. Since the "I" took this decision, it considers it as its own decision. And since the "I" often was not able to make a decision of its own, it prefers this one – rather than no decision
However, these are relatively small profits which can be reached through manipulation of the other co-ordination centre.The most effective and elegant way is to replace the other centre completely by one’s own will. In organisms this rarely occurs7 - it does, however, in the world of human beings where the acuisition structures have not grown together. This is happens almost always in a violent way. An example is the already mentioned "coup d’état". Those who command the army – the most powerful entity within a state – hold the necessary reins.
Here, the actual centre of control either consists in the will of the absolute monarch or in the book of recipes which is the "constitution". These entities have to be replaced by co-ordination regulations of one’s own. The monarch is overthrown or the constitution is abolished. This way an entire kingdom can be captured by the will of an individual and thus becomes its professional entitiy – or organ of acquisition8.
All forms of corruption – within the state or within companies
– are small offshoots of this process. Here, too, it is a matter of subjugating
controlling centres to the interests of other acquisitive structures. In
this case the weapon is not a ruse (as in advertising) nor is it violence
(as in the coup d’état), but it is an act of exchange. Functional
units of the other energon are after adequate compensation covertly turned
into functional units of the recipient’s own acquisition structure. Here,
the natural conflict between self-interest (of an employee or a clerk)
and the superordinate interest is utilised. Since the state places the
largest orders, it is possible to acquire quite eminent acquisition sources
in a roundabout way.
7
Within the economy as well as in the kingdom of plants and animals there are specialists and universalists. At both extremes advantages and disadvantages are involved. The specialist is able to provide a certain form of acquisition more efficiently, but this is only profitable if the acquisition sources are in a constant flux Otherwise the universalist who is less tied down has an advantage9.
In the economy as well as in nature, the size of the individual energon plays an important role. In competition and for defence against enemies it is an important weapon – on the other hand there is a maximum limit which cannot be crossed. It is easy to understand that a wolf which is ten times as large as another creature is not able to run ten times as fast. In spite of the advantage his size offers, it would not be possible for him to catch ten times more prey. Equally, in economics, the optimal size of industrial enterprises is limited by the length of the necessary routes for delivery and sale (as well as the related costs of transportation). In marginal utility analysis minute research has been done in order to determine the "maximum size".
In the economy as well as in the kingdom of animals and plants we can find higher numbers of the species in areas favourable to acquisition. If many kinds of energons find a livelihood, then selection is less critical. In tropical areas we are more likely to find ten individuals of different fish or butterfly species in one region (biotope) than ten individuals of the same species. In the favourable area of acquisition of the city it is the same. If we ask ten people on the street what their profession is, we are is more likely to find ten individuals with different professions than ten with the same. In the countryside, however, where the range of possibilities is far more limited, it is the other way around – as it is in the kingdom of plants and animals in places less good for acquisition.
In the economy as well as in the kingdom of organisms, the individual energons are connected with each other as far as acquisition is concerned, they depend on each other in manifold ways. The varying degrees of success in the acquiring activity of some "key species" lead to "conjunctures" and "depressions" for other species of energons.
Animals in particular are often linked in never-ending and interconnected "food chains". Every predator depends on its prey – and other predators hunting it are dependent on it in turn.
In the economy this is no different. Filling stations
and garages depend on the car industry, the producers of lighters and of
drugs against a smoking addiction are dependent on the cigarette industry.
Here there are similar never-ending interconnected "food chains". The shoemaker
makes money from the tailor (because he needs shoes), the tailor makes
profit from the lawyer (because he needs a suit ) and so on. Also here
variations of the individual "key acquisitions" can lead to "conjunctures"
and "depressions" for many other acquisition structures.
8
Almost every economic aspect also has legitimacy in the kingdom of organisms – vice versa. Here, the differences are no less informative than the similiarities.
In industrial enterprises there are two possibilities: production takes place depending on the number of orders or on stock. The advantage of the first option lies in the fact that the energy (capital) which is necessary for the immediate production is only called upon when a sale is guaranteed. The second option has the advantage that the product is available when there is a –foreseeable – demand.
What is the equivalent in the world of organisms?
Since acquisition there takes place through robbery and not though exchange, it is a little different. However, strictly theoretically speaking, we find the same difference here. Normally, first the acquisition organs are developed, then the organs start their acuisition activity. This corresponds with the production of stock: first there is an investment – then the energon starts looking for prey, for the acquisition source. But there also are some animal species which function following the other principle. First they secure the prey, then they develop the organ which is neccessary for acquisition.
It is the same with the parasite crab sacculina. It swims in the sea as a larva and looks for a fish on which it can settle. Until this happens, its body is merely a mechanism for looking for prey (so to speak the "investment capital"). Only when the sacculina has found its prey, it sticks its nutrient-absorbing tubulae into the fish. In principle this is comparable with production to order. The acquisition organ is only developed when the prey is secure. And this parallel goes even further. In the principle of production to order there are advances. Also, sacculina draws energy and material from the host body and uses them to build up the increasing acquisition organ, its suckers.
In the economy and in the civil service transportation is an important phenomenon. In organisms there is hardly any preliminary stage.
Young pike, when they are 5 to 9 mm long, mainly live on rotifers Then they mainly live on nauplius larvae and when they are twelve cm long they subsist on "copepods". Later they change to eating fish. Here, too, we can observe a change of resource – which however cannot be compared with a change of source of transportation within larger business organisations.
The essential difference is the overcoming of the limitation of the "species". All organisms – even if they change their source of acquisition – are tied to spatial-temporal structures. Only at the point in evolution where "human beings" appeared were these bonds loosened.
Human beings slip from one acquisittion structure into another. They reject the functional units and tie others to themselves. For the phenomenon of transportation such rigorous rebuilding is not necessary, additional behavioural blueprints are decisive here ("abilities", "experiences"). Also here there is a change of energons. In military structures the lieutenant is a different energon from the lance-corporal and the general is a different one from the major. In an enterprise the manager is an energon differing from the foreman, the general director differs from the director.
The only paralell for "transportation" can be found in insect colonies – for example in bee colonies. Until the tenth day of its life the "worker" works as a domestic inside the beehive: it cleans the honeycombs and warms the breeding cells. From the tenth to the twentieth day (the wax glands have developed by now) she builds honeycombs, takes on the nectar of the other workers, fills the nectar in the pantries and cleans the beehive. In the third period of life until her death she works as a collector. But, here too, there are different conditions. The "promoted" bee does not get "higher wages". Here, like everywhere else in the kingdom of plants and animals, there simply is no individual use of spare material (nor any incentive for this) – precisely because of the dependence on the species and the lack of a self-conscious intelligence.
We separate "economy" and "state" from vivid "nature".
But this wall, constructed within our own brain, is not justified, it has
to be overcome – "pulled down". The same goes for a second wall which is
not any lower: the one between "organic" and "inorganic" phenomena.
Comments:
1 An unusual
kind of impairment (which does not affect individuals, but the species)
is decribed by W. Kühnelt in his “Grundriß der Ökologie”
(p. 278): The crustacean species gammarus zaddachi is impaired by other
species of gammarus as the males of the latter copulate with the females
of the first. This results in unfertilised eggs – which signifies a considerable
loss of energy for this species. In this case the competitive effect is
extremely indirect. Through errors in their effort for reproduction the
other species is impaired.
2 In economy
the “marginal analysis” shows that the last customer which was attracted
with the utmost effort is the dearest. An increase of production reduces
the production costs, true, but this also leads to a rise in the marketing
costs. The market area of enterprises is limited. Which size is the best
for a certain enterprise has to be determined by what it offers: it depends
on the time and the place.
3 For those
biologists who determinedly look for a selection criterion everywhere it
should be added that this process is not completely detrimental.
The intellectual potential of human beings can still grow, even after their
acquisitive power fails. In this way it is possible that – as a protection
of the age reserve – recipes can still be set up which help the flow of
life along. Furthermore capital is developed in this way, which – if death
strikes early –helps the heir to a better starting point. Finally, provision
for old age has also provides motivation in the period of acquisition activity.
Hence almost everything has two sides. But these advantages surely do not
offset the disadvantage of systematic withdrawal of capital.
4 Here we
speak of an "agglomeration orientation": where enterprises are established,
others soon will follow, mostly those which offer additional services.
Industrial corporations are followed by such who offer services and repair
shops. Banks and maintenance institutions are the next.
5 R. Hesse,
“Tierbau und Tierleben”, Jena 1943, part II, p. 278
6 “The Hidden
Persuaders” (1957, currently out of print).
7 Only in
viruses, for example, which attack unicellular organisms.
8 The
amazon ants (polyergus rufescens) are specialised on this process, they
are even dependent on it. The young female of this species forces its way
into a colony of the ant species serviformica fusca, kills their queen
and is then adopted. Her brood is raised by another species of ants. The
amazon workers which emerge this way do no work at all within the ant colony.
The existence of this species is based on a permanent “social parasitism”.
(More can be found in: K. Gösswald, “Unsere Ameisen”, Stuttgart 1954,
pp. 72)
9 There
is a very appropriate aphorism about the human specialist which says that
he knows “more and more about less and less”.