Hive Minded

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Bees are good, bees are good: Ebenezer-beezer good... apologies for that, but it just flashed into mind, in the same surreal fashion that such things used to flash into the old man's mind: I am really starting to turn into my dad as I sink further into old age. Not a bad thing, in my book, so there we go... What I was going to say was that, apart from the fact that bees, and insects in general are indeed good - even when they bloody bite/sting or whatever - for the environment, us and the planet as a whole.

We tend to observe wonderingly their collaborative nature - social bees, that is, along with the amazing ant, and its Stakhanovite work-ethic and socialist tendencies - asking ourselves, just how on earth can they do it, whilst at the same time observing that, of course, they lack self-determination and individuality, unlike us, the apex species of Planet Earth. We must, of course, be superior to such blindly collaborative beings, however clever Natural Selection, or if you prefer, God has been in their making.

But, in reality, we also exhibit like-minded tendencies - hive mind - when choosing our particular paths through life. Self-determination has probably been my principal motivation in life, and I have followed whatever route has appeared to be favourable to me at the time; but I have never, ever, lost sight of the cooperative support that friends, family and collaborators that has enabled me to tread the paths I've chosen over these many decades.

I guess what I'm saying is that we need one another, and that simple self-determination, whilst a laudable motivation in itself, is not normally enough on its own: we all need the company and support of the hive. What exhibits itself, unfortunately more and more these days, though, is the kind of hive-mind that acts against the common good, fostering paranoia, prejudice and hatred - it's always been there, but now has the loud hailer of social media to amplify it to deafening levels - and it's salutary to reflect on the closeness - the thin, fragile dividing line - between one and the other. I espouse self-determined Zen-Socialism: make of it what you will, dear reader...

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