An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit (Ishmael 1) - Page 36

“I don’t know. I suppose so, so long as it wasn’t your policy that all the herds in the world were your own.”

“And what about denying competitors access to what you’re growing?”

“Again … Our policy is: Every square foot of this planet belongs to us, so if we put it all under cultivation, then all our competitors are just plain out of luck and will have to become extinct. Our policy is to deny our competitors access to all the food in the world, and that’s something no other species does.”

“Bees will deny you access to what’s inside their hive in the apple tree, but they won’t deny you access to the apples.”

“That’s right.”

“Good. And you say there’s a fourth thing the Takers do that is never done in the wild, as you call it.”

“Yes. In the wild, the lion kills a gazelle and eats it. It doesn’t kill a second gazelle to save for tomorrow. The deer eats the grass that’s there. It doesn’t cut the grass down and save it for the winter. But these are things the Takers do.”

“You seem less certain about this one.”

“Yes, I am less certain. There are species that store food, like bees, but most don’t.”

“In this case, you’ve missed the obvious. Every living creature stores food. Most simply store it in their bodies, the way lions and deer and people do. For others, this would be inadequate to their adaptations, and they must store food externally as well.”

“Yes, I see.”

“There’s no prohibition against food storage as such. There couldn’t be, because that’s what makes the whole system work: the green plants store food for the plant eaters, the plant eaters store food for the predators, and so on.”

“True. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Is there anything else the Takers do that is never done in the rest of the community of life?”

“Not that I can see. Not that seems relevant to what makes that community work.”

2

“This law that you have so admirably described defines the limits of competition in the community of life. You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down your competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war.”

“Yes. As you said, it’s the peace-keeping law.”

“And what’s the effect of the law? What does it promote?”

“Well … it promotes order.”

“Yes, but I’m after something else now. What would have happened if this law had been repealed ten million years ago? What would the community be like?”

“Once again, I’d have to say there would only be one form of life at each level of competition. If all the competitors for the grasses had been waging war on each other for ten million years, I’d have to think an overall winner would have emerged by now. Or maybe there’d be one insect winner, one avian winner, one reptile winner, and so on. The same would be true at all levels.”

“So the law promotes what? What’s the difference between this community and the community as it is?”

“I suppose the community I’ve just described would consist of a few dozen or a few hundred different species. The community as it is consists of millions of species.”

“So the law promotes what?”

“Divers

ity.”

“Of course. And what’s the good of diversity?”

“I don’t know. It’s certainly more … interesting.”

“What’s wrong with a global community that consists of nothing but grass, gazelles, and lions? Or a global community that consists of nothing but rice and humans?”

Tags: Daniel Quinn Ishmael Classics
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