It is called symbiosis, where both sides profit.
Well if you leech too many resources one of two things will happen:
- The host will remove you and kill you
- The host dies and you along with it
A parasite becoming too greedy will seal its own fate.
What annoys me about this meme is that it is the same relationship that underpins all business relationships. I understand you are not happy with the state of things but showing a drawing of “capitalism” at work in nature isn’t really making the point you think you are making.
This might as well be a pic of two guys in suits trading on a stock exchange floor with the same caption. Or add this to a caption to a pic of a lion eating a baby gazelle while its mother watches from the tree line. What point are we even trying to make here??
Business relationships may be mutually beneficial to those who willingly enter them, but unlike symbiotic relationships, they’re usually detrimental to the ecosystem as a whole.
How profitable for both sides business relationships are detrimental to economic ecosystem?
It’s an interesting argument but I think it is stretching things too far. Also isn’t a little anthrocentric to assume that our relationships are unique and different than all other living things here.
A pine tree drops needs that are so acidic few other plants can grow near it. Is it damaging the ecosystem?
Our relationship with bovines is weird right. probably the most successful large mammals on earth. Their success is completely due to being a great machine for turning grass into human food. It’s symbiotic in a lot of ways: we clear pasture and kill predators for them, but also, we eat them. Great for the cows and us, sucks for the trees and wolves.
Ants and aphids have a similar relationship. Great for the ants, and the aphids, not so much for the plants.
If you want to conflate human economics with the natural world, you would have to admit that nature is the domain of the most ruthless of capitalists. Christ, the whole point of a lot of leftist thinking is that we must “rise above” our animalistic nature.
but that’s not an inherent symptom of buisness relationships but rather of the ones conducting them. symbiotic relationships are not usually harmful to their environment because they are usually specialized for that niche and can’t just move somewhere else. humans (for themost part) can and thus aren’t as immediately affected by the detrimental effects of their buisness relations (or we actively ignore those detrimental effects)
Maybe mushrooms are still in the “build userbase” phase. Soon they will begin with the enshittification, raise the prices, put normal quality of life functions behind a paywall and add ads.
Tbf to the mushrooms, enshitification does sound like it would be good for them, botanically speaking.
IIRC, this actually happens. When the balance is disturbed, the mushrooms go wild and destroy young sapplings. Could be I recall incorrectly and it’s actually other species. I cannot recommend The Mother Tree enough, it goes into great detail of the history of research into this
Owner Class: “LOL screw that! Hey, Mushroom!”
Mushroom: “Yeah? What’s up?”
Owner Class: “Watch out! That White Tree is trying to steal your nutrients.”
Mushroom: “…”
Mushroom: (•ˋ _ ˊ•)
White Tree: “Whoa hang on there, fun guy. I’m not trying to steal your nutrients. I worked hard for these, I deserve my share.”
Mushroom: “Let’s fight, bitch!”
White Tree: “Them’s fighting words! You’re on!”
Scuffle Intensifies
Emperor Palpatine Owner Class: “Good. Good! Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” Sticks a straw in the nutrients and starts sucking all of it.
Owner Class: “Hey everybody. We’ve had an excellent season this year, so we wanted to pay our success forward. Hold out your hands, we’re gonna share our harvest!”
Mushroom and White Trees hold out their “hands”.
Owner Class trickles a pittance of nutrients on Mushroom only.
White Trees: “… Wait, what?! How come Mushroom got this?”
Mushroom: “Yeah that’s weird. Let’s go ask Owner Class what happened!”
Owner Class: “WTF? That’s so weird! Hey, Mushroom! What happened here? Why did you get some nutrients and White Trees didn’t get any?!”
Mushroom: “Hey, I deserve this! I worked so hard this season, I have to eat, too!”
White Trees: “Give us some!”
Mushroom: “Make me!”
Scuffle Intensifies
Emperor Palpatine Owner Class: Laughs in Reaganomics
Sticks more straws into the nutrients and starts sucking.
That’s a big ass mushroom tho
Excess calories and energy used to be considered profit.
If mushrooms could store energy in a bank they would be laughing
