The human species is not simply a bunch of rugged individuals all living on a blue marble orbiting the sun but a single entity. And for the fun of it, I will refer to this creature as ADAM and that ADAM lives amongst 8.7 million other species of plants and animals here on the third rock from the sun.
That we, as individual discrete organisms, are actually microorganisms within the greater macro-organism, ADAM. Which is also a species-level micro-organism consisting of some 3.8 million parts working together within Mother Nature, or what some might call Biofilm Earth.
Mother Nature(Earth) is a holobiont, and we(ADAM), too, are a holobiont. And who knows, maybe even our cells and microbes within us are also holobionts. Like a Matryoshka doll all the way down. Holobiont refers to an organism and its symbiotic partners (typically microbial) together as a single biological entity. The concept underscores the idea that the macro-organism and its microorganisms are so interconnected that they operate functionally as a single unit. The term “holobiont” derives from “holo-” (meaning whole or entire) and “biont” (meaning living entity). The combined term suggests an integrated system where the host organism and its associated microbial communities interact in ways that influence each other’s fitness, development, and evolution.
ADAM is simultaneously a discrete whole as well as a part of a larger whole. ADAM can be understood as the constituent part–wholes in and of a hierarchy. ADAM is a subsystem within a larger system, simultaneously evolving while also a part of a greater evolving system composed of other species as well.
ADAM is, by definition, a holon. Holons are self-reliant units with a degree of independence and can handle contingencies without asking higher authorities for instructions. Holons are simultaneously subject to control from one or more of these higher authorities. Holons are stable forms that can withstand disturbances and are intermediate, providing a context for the proper functionality of the larger whole.
I want to present a better, more accurate, simpler, more holistic understanding of how something like the black plague, Spanish flu, or our most recent species-level event that just happened is not spread by an invisible viral particle or a demon but through quorum sensing and mirror neurons. Basically, it is a communication system used by what I will refer to as bacteria(INDIVIDUAL HUMANS) to monitor and respond to changes in population density by altering gene expression. Essentially, it’s a way for bacteria(HUMANS) to “talk” to each other and coordinate their behavior, much like individuals in a large crowd of discrete species adjusting their actions based on the number of other species around them. This coordinated behavior allows human populations to act as multicellular entities in certain contexts.
That, what we are experiencing in these species-level pandemics is a coordinated event orchestrated by our species host, or ADAM and his immune system, to cleanse HIS body(the whole of humanity) of its diseased and dying cells(individuals) within the context of the holobiont(Adam), that is living as an individual species(holon) within a greater holobiont we call Mother Earth.