PART VII: PARASITISM AND EXPLOITATION

Chapter 25: The Hook

1. By far the most infamous epidemic is the Black Plague. But in terms of the total number of deaths, the worst epidemic of all time occurred in our own century. From September 1918 through June 1919, between 20 and 50 million lives were blotted out by a world-wide epidemic of influenza.

2. Influenza is caused by a virus. Many biologists describe viruses as the ultimate parasites. Every parasite has a "hook." Regardless of size or way of life, a parasite must be able to physically attach itself to its host.

3. Every parasite's mode of existence is essentially the same: latch onto a host, drain its resources, and convert those resources into offspring.

4. The beef tapeworm might be the perfect parasite - a hook and a well- nourished reproductive system unnoticed by its host.

5. From the human perspective, cooperation is worthier than exploitation. In nature, however, a parasite is not a "bad" organism any more than a mutualist is a "good" organism. In the ecosystem, being a parasite carries no moral stigma. As lethal as the AIDS virus is to humans, it is no more or less "moral" in its behavior than a puppy.

6. In economics, grasping the ecological characteristics of a relationship can help us understand why we intuitively regard it as ethical or unethical. In society, the impulse for fair dealing represents a general desire to eliminate parasitic behavior and encourage mutualistic behavior.

7. Because traditional crimes are such extreme forms of parasitism, elaborate measures are taken to control them. Every year in the U.S. about $12.5 billion is taken from those who earn their goods through mutually beneficial exchange. Even so, as severe as America's crime problem is, property losses account for less than 0.3 percent of the economy's $5,000 billion annual output.

8. As technology changes, some economic parasites become extinct while others emerge to take advantage of the new, unoccupied niches. Stagecoach robbers, for example, are extinct.

9. Aside from the normal repugnance of exploitative behavior, an unspoken economic rationale underpins society's insistence that its members behave as mutualists.

10. To create an environment where cooperation flourishes, the elimination of exploitation should be the chief objective of laws. But keeping anti-parasite laws in step with a rapidly evolving economy isn't simple. Identifying the economy's true parasites and writing laws that destroy their hooks requires a bionomic perspective.