On the shared genetic memories between us, the cat and the fly | Aeon Essays

The main thing I keep coming back to is that nothing flourishes in isolation. Neurons first evolved around the same time that animals started eating each other: that is to say, the fact that we have thought at all emerges from an evolutionary necessity to be aware of the presence of other animals. That doesn’t mean intelligence has its origins in h... See more

I think we need to, in this time, we need to reckon with the fact that in each and every single one of our bodies holds living memory of our ancestors coming into agreements with plants and animals, and those agreements are those, um, covenants that our ancestors, you know, wove themselves into with plants is that they said, "we'll give up a little... See more