“In a savage society…the loss of a few individual parts means nothing. But in a more advanced organism like a civilized community, ‘you cannot remove or injure any considerable organ without producing great disturbance or death of the rest’” (Herbert Spencer; 213).
This quote raises quite a few questions in my mind. Worster is trying to compare the human body to a civilized community when in fact humans are the only species that we deem capable of civilized society. Humans have become quite dependent on one another. No longer does man scavenge the countryside for food and water. Instead, we jump in the car and drive to the nearest grocery store. If every grocery store, market, and vending machine closed one day, how many of your friends do you think could survive? We have become dependent on each other to provide what we have managed to forget from the past. There is no greater trait then the ability to become independent and we as a species have all become much too dependent on one another. Animals dictate their course of action by what is available. Do you think the hawk scanning the horizon for food is really worried about if the marmot is a bit discolored or not the average size? Is man even capable of surviving without a global economy? Our race has become one of technological advancements and relies a lot less on what the human body is actually capable of. Humans have evolved too intellectually, but physical traits seem to only be skin deep. Does humanity deft what everyone now sees as evolution or has humanity just adapted noticeably more then other animals? Perhaps the only reason humanity is on top of the food chain is chance. I am sure that we wont always be the dominant species on this planet.