Hi John,
Thank you so much for taking time to answer my odd questions :)
Especially thank you for sending the copy of your book! This is so timely.
And yes, your answers are super helpful and that was what I was hoping to understand better.
Sorry if some parts were wordy, there are concepts I like to look into but don't yet know the proper terminology, so my phrasing gets sort of clunky.

Lynn Margulis was your instructor? How amazing is that! (for those of us who only read about these folks). It is so neat to be part of this division and this group of TOKers too. You all never cease to amaze me.

About Margulis' work, in addition to symbiogenesis and endosymbiosis, I really like the idea of challenging the notion that life is food, and questioning whether, once you ingest something, it is magically transformed into energy for mentally directed tasks (that biological matter is here for mental agents' benefit). We do have evidence that what we consume often takes up some form of residence in us if it is not completely "digested" and broken down into less threatening elements (i.e. food preservatives are starting to gain a bad reputation - maybe our food is not the only thing being affected by our convenience chemicals...). We seem more like little ecosystems with legs that redistribute ecological affordances in amensal ways.

Just one additional thing... some have challenged the self concept itself... and this too is in keeping with a more symbiotic view of the amazing human body and its mind. It seems to go hand in hand with your view of cells:

Gilbert, S. F., Sapp, J., & Tauber, A. I. (2012). A symbiotic view of life: we have never been individuals. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 87(4), 325-341.

What do you think? Rather than rob us of our worth, my sense is that it opens up a whole new era of thinking about how wonderful nature is and how lucky we are to be a part of it.

Thank you again
Lonny

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