Investigating the Human Body as a Metaphor for Self-organizing Networks
(Chapter 4)
When we investigate how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we gain deeper insight into the linearity of human behavior. As a nonlinear network, our body has a power law distribution in terms of energy distribution, control, and consumption. This can be seen in how although the brain accounts for only 2.5 percent of the whole body’s weight, it has dominant control over the whole body and it consumes more energy per gram per second than any other organ in our body, making it the main hub of our body network. The function of the hub is crucial for stability, sustainability, and robustness of the whole network when it participates in nonlinear relationship with the rest of the network. Subconsciously the brain syncs with the whole body, allowing us to perform with deep simplicity.
Consciously, however, as the domination of linear thinking illusively separates ourselves from the universe, it illusively separates the brain from the body network as well. Driven by self-assertiveness and short-term gain, the linearly-minded brain then implements linear relationship between it and other members of the body network instead of holistic and integrated behavior. And as a result, the brain often maintains and entertains itself at the expense of the rest of the body, prioritizing entertainment, habits, liability management, and control. Our brain can be so shortsighted that it does not realize that its own long-term sustainability is connected to the wellbeing of the whole body network, not just its own. To satisfy our brains’ short-term desires, we consume more than we need, and we suffer the consequences later. In this way, we see how linear thinking also leads us to exhibit a similar tendency toward other members of the web of life, including plants, animals, the Earth itself, and even other humans. We divide each other into genders, races, nations, and separate beliefs; and instead of cooperating and utilizing asset management with the whole network to achieve optimum synergy, we focus mostly on differences and liability management, rather than recognizing shared values.
The body network is a whole organism made up of many subnetworks (respiratory, circulatory, immune, central nervous, muscle, skeletal system, etc.), which are all cognitive systems according to Santiago theory. Though it is another part embedded within the overall network, the domination of linear thinking has led us to believe that the brain is the only member of this multi-system cognitive network. For instance, we tend to view the heart only as a pump; but the heart is another center that perceives information through gut feeling and intuition. We tend to ignore the heart’s potential beyond its mechanical functionality, along with the potential of other participants within the body network, though they are collectively creating our perception of the universe. This perception of members of our body network performing in limited ways leads us to ignore perceivable relationships amongst the various nonlinear systems that are part of a greater cognitive network.
Once we start observing our actions, thinking, and habits with systemic thinking, relationship, and values, those observations act as a self-organizing feedback system. Consciously participating in this feedback system will allow us to overcome the dominance of linear perception to synchronize our left- and right-sides of the brain. By shifting the domination of the left-side to a cooperation of left- and right-sides, we will eventually sync the whole brain with the whole body network and fully optimize the potential of our brains in a way that is in sync and harmony with the greater networks we are a part of. After our brain goes through this process of observation and the self-organizing process that results, the brain will reconnect with this inherent, universal, self-organizing process that orchestrates our universe. And the result will be a more efficient brain and a more healthy body, and we will become mentally and physically more sustainable. The paradigm shift will start within our individual body networks, and will expand to any network that we are participating in at any scale.
The development of an app that monitors our linear behaviors could provide feedback that guides us to shift toward systems relationships and values would be instrumental in personal development, and its findings could be applied to any other network at scale.
