The human body is an intriguing system of systems. In a finely tuned body, each cell scoops what it needs from the various fluids in the body (blood, CSF, etc) and puts the trash out in the same way. We should marvel at this, at the power of osmosis - a system designed for transferring things according to concentration differential across a permeable membrane.

If only society worked that way. I suppose if you had to label a human body as some form of 'ism', it would be socialist. If it had to be labeled a form of political government, nothing would fit. The body isn't democratic. It isn't communist. It isn't a monarchy. It isn't a form of anarchy, either - in fact, if it were any of these things the body would probably become ill. Maybe even die.

Yet, somehow, we organize our human society in ways that don't mimic the way our own bodies work.

Our human nervous system is made up of about 1 trillion cells - roughly 166 times the population of our planet (6.x billion)¹. The human body in entirety is made up of close to 50 trillion cells - 8,333 times the population of human beings on Earth^ibid.

And, for the most part, it works quite well for the average human being. But there is the downside: cells die. Cells live. Cells die. Cells live. Our bodies constantly are being regenerated, though different cells at different rates. Red blood cells, for example, die at about 2.89 million per second (and give your stool that brown color).

Nonetheless, it's a working system that is continuing to evolve. And human society, as far as medical science has come, has not really learned all that much from medical science outside of marketing for pharmaceutical companies.

Wouldn't it be interesting to consider how the human body governs itself - or doesn't?

¹My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey; Chapter Two (Simple Science)