Related to the post below on how organisms and ecologies are highly opportunistic and tend to make use of whatever is at hand (rather than, for example, hoping for something else or wishing for a past situation). This results in profound resilience, in part, because the energies and resources needed to originate behavior are conserved (and as much as natural places and beings are opportunistic, they must also be conservative in terms of resource expeditures).

This relates to nearly everything in nature, and, not surprisingly, our own humanity. So it is that we tend to ‘hitchhike’ on processes and situations that are already established or locally operant rather than originating behavior or activity. This is particularly obvious in terms of how we direct attention: our historical developmental contexts paid great benefits to those who were able to take advantage of the flow of forces available to their awareness and exploitation.

We both consciously and unconsciously depend upon cues from nearby others (and those we are close to or opposed to) to direct our attention. Much has been made of the fact that dogs ‘are capable of following a human’s gaze to seek out what the human is watching or aware of’, but we have overlooked the power and depth of our own similar behaviors. Many of the technologies of the State and Market (i.e. facebook) capitalize wildly on this aspect of human behavior, and we often seek out specific others with whom we can ‘hitchhike’ more profitably or effectively.

If you observe animals and insects, plants and ecologies, you may be surprised at just how common and profound this aspect of relation turns out to be… but it is useful to explore the human analogs, both in terms of what acquires our attention (and how), and in terms of how we negotiate highly complex processes such as driving at high speeds in traffic or determining what is safe, dangerous, ‘interesting’ or ‘profitable’.