GIVEN M.

SIMATAA
ID: UM13404HCR20789

SEMINARCULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT I

THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS (ESSAY)

ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

HONOLULU, HAWAII

December 11, 2010

 INTRODUCTION

The Hidden Connections is a book much scientific authored by Fritjof Capra, in this book
Capra relates today’s dynamic and complex human life styles to the symbiotic lives of
different interrelated and interdependent organisms. In a more specific manner he is trying to
apply the ideology of obscurity assumptions to the close scrutiny of the magnitude of the
interactions and correlations of mankind. He relates in this book that if we are to maintain a
future life we need to learn to respect the rules of nature, the rules and principles that nature
has inevitably adapted to advance and sustain what he calls the web of life. This book
elaborates and clears just how much the hypothetical thoughts and scientific theories which
are much ignored by most of the world that operates outside the margins of science can
practically be applied to resolving most of the problems that threaten the existence of this
planet.

This book brings to light the interrelation and interconnections of science in relation to our
societal and social organizations which most of us are not aware, this can only be the reason
he titled the book ‘The Hidden Connections’, it is because most of the world’s population is
either unaware of this understanding, or may be just negligent its reality. According to a
presentation by Darian Schiffman (academics, AIU) quoting from Capra (2002 p. vvi), the
book basically has two goals, which are; to bring forth a new understanding of life through
the presentation of a conceptual framework that integrates life’s biological, cognitive as well
as social dimensions; and to offer a clear systematic approach to some pertaining questions
we have that negatively and aversively affect our world.

This study purposes to critically analyze the message in this book, to look at every aspect of
human life that it addresses, I believe Capra himself being a physicist of prominence and an
award winner in the science department, importantly with enough time, examined and fully
dissected the theoretical scientific principles in every possible way and in their applicable
nature, that in the end saw the connectivity of these scientific articulations to our own social
lives today; at the same time he saw in the most significant way the effect the things that we
do as humans are going to later affect us if we do not change the organizational principles that
govern and direct our lives today.

The book also touches almost all the significant aspects of human life and boldly
substantiates just how each of these aspects affects the other if not well maintained, or
sustained. In the most general view the book brings the world to understanding the extremes
of destruction our current principles have on nature, making future life almost unimaginable,
in the same vein the book proposes the possible amicable measures that we can take to
preserve our world, especially world leaders and world environmental organizations. For long
the world has being striving towards globalization, this book addresses both the challenges
and dangers of such a motive, addressing the complications of biotechnology and its nature.
The book simply brings together the scientific world and our own social world, and
pragmatically defining these worlds’ relationship and probable dependence.
 THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS (THE BODY)

The Nature of Life: mostly this would direct a person to the question “what is life?” a
question which will obviously trigger an outburst of mental assumptions some driven by
general thought, and some oriented by experience. An encyclopedic thesaurus Word Web, life
is defined as being the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities, or
the course of existence of an individual; the actions and events that occur in living. This may
sound quite simple and brief, but Capra looks at it in quite broader perspective, and defines it
in even more detailed way, pin-pointing specific aspects that make up the definition of life.

Capra explains in some way that no man or organism is total island, in one way or another
every organism depends on other organisms, no wonder I personally a ‘symbiotic’ kind of
relation where one organism of a different specie cannot live without the other, the
interdependence of organisms where each organism benefits from the other. The practical of
such relationship is that of plants and animals, animals basically cannot make their own food
so they depend on the photosynthetic process of plants, through which plants make food, at
the same time releasing oxygen which animals do need forth the process of respiration.

Maturana and Varela (1980) quoted by Capra (2002), in their definition of life came up with
the concept of ‘autopoiesis’ which factually mean “self-making”, this concept particularly
amalgamates two defining characteristics or aspects of cellular life which are the physical
boundary and the metabolic network; and in contrast to the surfaces of crystals or large
molecules, the boundary of an autopoietic system is chemically distinct from the rest of the
system and it participates in metabolic processes by assembling itself and by selectively
filtering incoming and outgoing molecules. Therefore, the definition of a living system as an
autopoietic network means that the phenomenon of life has to be understood as a property of
the system as a whole, just as much as Pier Luigi (2008) mentions that life cannot be
attributed to any single molecular component, not even to the DNA or RNA but only to the
entire bounded metabolic network.

‘Autopoiesis provides a clear and powerful criterion for distinguishing between living and
nonliving systems. For example, it tells us that viruses are not alive, because they lack their
own metabolism. Outside living cells, viruses are inert molecular structures consisting of
proteins and nucleic acids. A virus is essentially a chemical message that needs the
metabolism of a living host cell to produce new virus particles, according to the instructions
encoded in its DNA or RNA. The new particles are not built within the boundary of the virus
itself, but outside in the host cell,’ Capra (2002). So, the autopoiesis theory strongly supports
and founds the Santiago theory in some way. It explains and provides answers to many other
questions that surround the issue life and its natural defining features and traits, it can as well
symbiotic relationships, organizations, and social networks of organisms.

During the process of respiration animals excrete/release carbon dioxide which plants need
for the process of photosynthesis, so plants need animals for the carbon dioxide, and plants
animals need plants for the oxygen. We (animals) primarily need each other to survive. God
created a world that nourishes, restores, and preserves itself it weren’t for human activities
that have degraded to total ruin, a example a livestock farmer lets his/her livestock feed on the
pasture, as they are grazing they are dropping dung on the pastures which will in the next rain
season dissolve to nourish the soil as fertilizer, promoting an even better outgrowth of
pasture, therefore the soil nourishment depends on the livestock, and the nourishment of the
livestock depends on the soil. Capra looks at life as not being exclusively determined defined
by the inherent design but views it as an emergent or evolving process that engages an
complete epigenetic network or external factors, making it continuously responding to both
physical and chemical constrictions we exert on our environment.

There is one common character that all living organisms share and this is unquestionable,
they all have cells, be it animals, people, plants , or microorganisms such as bacteria, virus or
fungi, all of them have cells that build up to give a structure. Despite transitions and extreme
conditions, the genetic blueprint of organisms has so far stayed intact in most cases, some
have succumbed to the inevitability of evolution, but some have been the same for thousands
of years and the dependence upon another species of organisms have been carried on and on.

In his definition of life Capra (2002:6) uses the bacterial cell to clearly delineate what life is
all about, he states that when a cell is viewed under a microscope one can easily notice that
inside it a metabolic processes that uses special macromolecules consisting of elongated
chains of atoms, and two of such macromolecules are common in all living cells, and these
are proteins and the nucleic acid (the Deoxyribonucleic Acid-DNA and the Ribonucleic Acid-
RNA). Basically there are two kinds of proteins as well; the enzymes act catalysts for most
metabolic processes, where as the structural proteins form part of the cell structure. The DNA
and the RNA within the cell work hand-in-hand determining that crucial bond defining the
cell’s genetic and metabolic features.

The Santiago Theory: Maturana and Varela (1980:13) in theoretical definition of the
Santiago theory say all living systems are cognitive systems, and that living as a process is
itself a process of cognition, and the two further cement that ‘this statement is valid for all
organisms in spite of whether such organism got a nervous system or not. Initially in the
world of philosophy Rene Descartes (1596-1650) emphasized the Cartesian View which
promotes dualism as follows which suggests that the body operates like some kind of
machine, having material properties of extension and motion, that it operates within the
doctrines of physics; and further articulates that the mind/soul on the other is kind of none-
material, making it a unit without extension and motion, and follows not the rules of physics.
Descartes stressed that it is only the human beings that have minds, and that the mind acts
together with the body at the pineal gland, a tiny pine-like endocrine gland located close to
the central part of the brain which produces melatonin, a hormone responsible for regulation
the patterns of sleeping or waking up as well as other seasonal functions. This understanding
generally relates that it is the mind that basically and pragmatically controls the entire, and
that at the same time the body can as well manipulate the reasoning of the mind especially in
cases where a person acts out of an emotional intuition.

This theory looks at cognition as a component quite indispensable in the issues of systems, it
practically imply that almost every activity that takes place or transpires in the system
processes require cognition, which Capra stipulates as taking place in phases as follows,
‘Cognition, is not a representation of an independently existing world, but rather a continual
bringing forth of a world through the process of living. The interactions of a living system
with its environment are cognitive interactions, and the process of living itself is a process of
cognition. In the words of Maturana and Varela, "to live is to know". As a living organism
goes through its individual pathway of structural changes, each of these changes corresponds
to a cognitive act, which means that learning and development are merely two sides of the
same coin. The first type, known as "primary consciousness," arises when cognitive processes
are accompanied by basic perceptual, sensory and emotional experience. Primary
consciousness is probably experienced by most mammals and perhaps by some birds and
other vertebrates. The second type of consciousness, sometimes called "higher-order
consciousness," involves self-awareness—a concept of self, held by a thinking and reflecting
subject.

This experience of self-awareness emerged during the evolution of the great apes, or
"hominids," together with language, conceptual thought and all the other characteristics that
fully unfolded in human consciousness. Because of the critical role of reflection in this
higher-order conscious experience, I shall call it "reflective consciousness." Reflective
consciousness involves a level of cognitive abstraction that includes the ability to hold mental
images, which allows us to formulate values, beliefs, goals and strategies. This evolutionary
stage is of central relevance to the main theme of this book—the extension of the new
understanding of life to the social domain— because with the evolution of language arose not
only the inner world of concepts and ideas, but also the social world of organized
relationships’ Capra (2002:38-39).

According to Capra (2002:34) ‘the central insight of the Santiago Theory is the identification
of cognition, the process of knowing, with the process of life. Cognition, according to
Maturana and Varela (1980), is the activity involved in the self-generation and self-
perpetuation of living networks. In other words, cognition is the very process of life. The
organizing activity of living systems, at all levels of life, is mental activity. The interactions
of a living organism—plant, animal or human—with its environment are cognitive
interactions. Thus life and cognition are inseparably connected. Mind—or, more accurately,
mental activity—is immanent in matter at all levels of life.’ This to me sounds more prudent
and quite rational in comparison to the other perceptions, in opposition to Rene’s theories the
Santiago Theory is more clearer and comprehensible even for low class students, it brings to
life the real life situation that we all experience everyday, it makes one see the connection and
dependability of organisms upon other organisms, taking into perspective, the biotic and
abiotic factors on nature.

According to the online encyclopedia (Wikipedia, 2010) Descartes believed that this special
gland was the ‘seat of the soul’ an understanding he purported with many reasons stated
respectively as follows; firstly, he understood that the soul is unitary or one and this to him
meant the pineal gland was an entity despite it being proven hemispherical; second to this he
discovered that this gland was positioned near the ventricles making him believe the
cerebrospinal fluid worked through the nerves to control the body, as well as regulating the
processes manipulated by the pineal gland.; and finally Descartes despite figuring-out that
both human beings and animals had the pineal gland he still resolved that only humans had
minds advancing in his mind the idea that animals cannot feel pain or are insensitive to pain.

Unfortunately the Cartesian view gets questioned and in the process challenged by the
Santiago Theory which takes a totally different stand from the philosophy of Descartes. The
Santiago Theory vehemently recognizes the reality of cognition, normally defined as the
ability or the process of knowing, or the activity involved in self-generation and self-
perpetuation of living systems, entailing that cognition is actually the life itself, Maturana &
Varela (1980). The Santiago theory moves away from Descartes’ view of life and instead
studies the mind from a systematic understanding and has so far given to the interdisciplinary
field of Cognitive Science; and according to Capra (2002:34), this theory holds the
‘Organizing activity of all living systems at all levels of life, is actually mental activity’.
Therefore the old perception of the mind as a ‘thinking thing’ has progressed into a view of
the mind as being a process where the ‘entire structure of the organism participates’ Capra
(2002:37).

Many other views have so far been brought forth to oppose Descartes view, but the Santiago
Theory has so far been the first scientific hypothesis that has really questioned and practically
overcame the Cartesian dissection of mind and matter, and from the optimistic point of view
this theory is believed to have far-reaching implications. Generally this theory has brought the
mind and body/matter together viewed as two harmonizing and complementary aspects
defining the phenomenon of life. So far the theory has already brought substantial knowledge
and understanding concerning the beginning with the a simple micro cell, the mind, the
matter, the process and the structure at all levels which have so far proven to be inseparable
and interdependent in one way or another, this unities the mind, matter and life.

In the Santiago theory (Capra, 2002:34-36) it is clearly stated that as ‘a living organism
responds to environmental influences with structural changes, these changes will in turn alter
its future behavior. In other words, a structurally coupled system is a learning system.
Continual structural changes in response to the environment—and consequently continuing
adaptation, learning and development—are key characteristics of the behavior of all living
beings. Because of its structural coupling, we can call the behavior of an animal intelligent
but would not apply that term to the behavior of a rock. As it keeps interacting with its
environment, a living organism will undergo a sequence of structural changes, and over time
it will form its own individual pathway of structural coupling. At any point on this pathway,
the structure of the organism is a record of previous structural changes and thus of previous

The Santiago theory advances the issue of higher order consciousness or ‘reflective
consciousness which involves a level of cognitive abstraction that includes the ability to hold
mental images’ Capra (2002:39). This inevitable capability gives human beings the repertoire
to create a value system and act cordially. In the simplest of perception, this theory drives us
take a person’s subjective and prejudiced experience into some version which has been
conventionally ignored by science. The Santiago specifically states that mind is no thing
rather a process operating through the brain relating that brain and mind is actually one
between process and structure. It is also of some degree of importance to note that this
eradicates the idea that the brain is the only compartment involved in the process of
cognition, clearly illustrating the fact that in all vertebrate organisms the immune system is
actually a complicated network of unrelenting interconnectedness, just as much as the
nervous system serving similarly the vital co-ordination purpose.

According to the Wikipedia (2010) on the Santiago theory, cognition appears as a

consequence of continual interaction between the system and its environment, delineating that
the continuous interactions between system and the environment triggers two-sided
disturbances viewed as problems forcing the system to use its functional specialization
routine to find solutions to the perturbations. It is of importance to note in this theory that the
system slowly adapts to its environment positioning itself to face-up to the disturbances or
intrusion in order to sustain survival. This therefore means the resulting complexity
complicatedness of living systems is cognition emanating from the bilateral perturbations in
the system/environment outline. The theory is really making the scientific world dig deep into
these discoveries, eradicating misunderstandings and doubts, setting up the facts straight from
experimental experience and observations.

Extending the System Approach: Capra, resorts that the systematic understanding of life
practically allows the world to see and comprehend the fundamental unity to life, that
different living systems exhibit similar patterns of organization, Capra (2002:81),. This
understanding can practically be applied to our communities, and the impact will definitely be
significant. The defining blueprint of the systems is quite complicated but can be understood.
According to the presentation by Schiffman (AIU Academics, 2010) quoting from Capra
(2002:81), when we extend this understanding and knowledge, applying it to the social
domain we actually apply our ‘knowledge of life’s basic patterns and delineating principles of
organization, and specifically apply our understanding of living networks to social/societal
reality’. The living networks in our social communities work just like the brain in its
environment; the two diverse situations easily match and model each other.

Capra views his extension of the systems approach to the social domain as explicitly
including the material world, which is quite unusual since traditionally social scientists were
not interested in the world of matter. He basically mentions that ‘our academic disciplines
have been organized in such a way that the natural sciences deal with social structures, which
are perceived to be especially the rules of behavior; stating that in the near future this strict
division will no longer be possible since the key challenge of this new century for social
scientists, natural scientists and everyone else will be to build ecologically sustainable
communities, designed in such a way that their technologies and social institutions, their
material and social structure do not interfere with nature’s hereditary ability to sustain life;…
the design principles of our future social institutions must be consistent with the principles of
organization that nature has evolved to sustain the web of life. A unified conceptual frame
work for the understanding of material and social structures will be essential this task’ Capra
(2002:19).

The Social Network: in every society or community there must be a distinctive social kind of
network and on the issue of this kind of network Capra states that social networks use
communication, which normally takes place in multiple feedback loops, as some measure to
reproduce itself and its culture, and thus its value and belief. This actually addresses social
reality. Capra mentions that wherever there is social organization there is power courtesy of
the inevitable conflicts of interest, and it is in these situations where ‘power plays a central
role in the emergence of social structure’ which happens to provide people with rules or
principles of behavior, Capra (2002:90). Normally the ‘social networks generate material
structures buildings, roads, technologies, etc, which become structural components of the
network; and they also produce material goods and artifacts that are exchanged between the
network's nodes. However, the production of material structures in social networks is quite
different from that in biological and ecological networks.

‘The structures are created for a purpose, according to some design, and they embody some
meaning; and to understand the activities of social systems, it is crucial to study them from
that perspective…perspective of meaning includes a multitude of interrelated characteristics
that are essential to understanding social reality. Meaning itself is a systemic phenomenon: it
always has to do with context. Webster's Dictionary defines meaning as "an idea conveyed to
the mind that requires or allows of interpretation," and interpretation as "conceiving in the
light of individual belief, judgment, or circumstance." In other words, we interpret something
by putting it into a particular context of concepts, values, beliefs, or circumstances. To
understand the meaning of anything we need to relate it to other things in its environment, in
its past, or in its future. Nothing is meaningful in itself’ Capra (2002:83-84).

According to Wenger (2006), organisms in an environment develop a common practice which

characterizes the shared manner of how things are executed and relate to each other, a reality
that allows such organisms to attain their unifying course, and in most cases after a while
such practice turns to be a significant bond within the participants. This book clearly depicts
from its author that when we try to extend this new understanding of life to the social domain,
we immediately come up against a bewildering multitude of phenomena, rules of behavior,
values, intentions, goals, strategies, designs, power relations that play no role in most of the
non-human world but are essential to human social life, however though, these different
characteristics of social reality all share a basic common feature that provides a natural link to
the systems view of life developed in the other chapters of the book, Capra (2002:73).

Normally this is how social networks come into being, and such communities have special
aspects in common such as; that impeccable looking common understanding, the general
involvement of the community members, the regular round of activities that the members
become accustomed encompassing the accepted rules of behavior, attitude and
comprehension which are normally sustained in due course, Wenger (2008). It such attributes
that end up becoming differentiating principles of a community, despite emanating from the
ordinary; they primarily become the identifying traits for a specific community.

From the most general of perspectives, the social networks of mankind are defined by minor
and major aspects that maintain and sustain the network, and the connectivity in the entire
metaphor, the same critically resembles the systems in the human beings and most other
organisms. In any typical social network there are strict outlines that define and regulate
behavior and attitudes a practice that results in the creation of ethics and norms that different
societies resort to consider for societal order. Capra states that ‘at all scales of nature, we find
living systems nesting within other living systems, networks within networks. Their
boundaries are not boundaries of separation but boundaries of identity. All living systems
communicate with one another and share resources across their boundaries’. This clearly
shows the possibility of social networks in another living web of networks interacting just as
normal.

Organization and Change: in most cases where an effort to bring change has been made and
proven to be futile due to feeling and assumption that people resisted the intended change, the
general conclusion made is the people resisted is refused to buy into the introduced change,
be it for their good and benefit. Capra defiles and contradicts this idea and calls it false,
stating that people only resist having change if such change is not negotiable meaning if such
change is simply imposed on them, normally societies or communities would appreciate and
support change if their input on the idea is sort. It makes them feel part of that change, and
part of a social community that operates systematically. When we transfer on the metaphor of
an organization from machine to the living systems we actually begin to view organizations
as communities with collective identities that share common values.

During an interview by Barbara Vogl (2010) with Capra mentioned in answer to the question
concerning self-organization in our individual lives and organizations could be useful in
helping us see how to get through the anxiety in our period of transition and passing into the
new paradigm thinking, he replied and said ‘Well I think self-organization and the newer
understanding of life and complexity, when it is applied to the social realm and human
organizations, can help people to find their authenticity as human beings The old paradigm
model is a mechanistic model where people are seen as parts of a big machine and the
machine is designed by experts who either sit at the top of the organization or are brought in
from outside as consultants. Then this design of new structures is imposed upon the people
who work in the organization and they are pigeon-holed in certain departments with well-
defined boundaries. So the underlying model is that of a machine working very smoothly.

What self-organization tells you, among many other things, is that creativity is an inherent
property of all living systems. All living systems are creative because they have the ability to
reach out and create something new. In the last 20-25 years we have begun to understand the
dynamics of this creativity, in terms of emergence of new structures and in terms of
instability, bifurcation points, and the spontaneous emergence of order. This is the underlying
dynamics of creativity at all levels of life. When people understand this they will realize that
human individuals as well as groups of individuals are inherently creative. So when you have
an organization and you want to design a new structure and you bring in outside experts and
then impose this structure on the organization you have to spend a lot of energy and money to
sell the idea to the employees and the manager.

Since human beings are inherently creative they will not accept the idea as it is. Since this
will deny their humanity. Therefore you can give them orders and they will nominally adhere
to the orders but they will circumvent the orders; they will re-invent the orders and will
modify it, either boycott it or embellish it, adding their own interpretation’. This to me
implies the fact that for anything to be of some level of importance and value to the people,
the people need to understand it first, have some insight on its implications, put on balance
the advantages and the disadvantages, enabling them to be able to define the situation in its
true context.

Organizations or companies with collective identities do exist in sharp contrast to the

‘economical company, whose priorities are determined by the purely economic criteria Capra
(2002:105). In further expatiation of this situation Capra states that ‘organizations cannot be
controlled through direct interventions, but can be influenced by giving impulses rather than
instructions, Capra (2002:112). In most cases interventions end up causing tension and
stampedes in communities, but impulses which are normally conditioning can gradually bring
about the desired change. Capra continues to point out that it is the meaningful disturbances
that normally trigger structural changes within an organization, instead of force Capra
(2002:112).

The general deduction is that if you intend to bring about change, it is best that you involve
the people as the subject of that change, for such change will directly affect them so they
should be consulted about the change before it is applied, so if you involve people in the
creation of change, then definitely change will be come.

Organization in an economy: Organization plays a major role in shaping the economy of

our social communities and the world at large. The Hidden connections discuses the most
probing issues in the world today, starting with politics, sociology, education, ethics,
philosophy and design, and the book’s main theme is change in these important aspects of our
lives. In an interview with Ecotecture (2002) addressing the issue of economy, Capra states
that he calls for change of values, a change of politics, a change of attitudes, with the general
goal of building a sustainable society and the future that is sustainable, and believable for our
children, and further explained as an example that ‘in order to change the economy in such a
way that it becomes sustainable, one needs to understand the world economy, which today is
a network of computers, a network of flows of money and information and power that
extends globally. So we need to understand how we can introduce a different set of values
into the global economy.’ He extends that ‘in order to do that, we need to understand the
relationship between living networks and values and human choices and politics. So it needs
certain kind of philosophy and…spiritual stance/background, but it also needs the scientific
understanding.’

He clearly stipulates that in addition to being living communities, organizations are as ‘social
institutions designed for specific purposes and functioning in a specific economic
environment’ Capra (2002:125). According to the presentation by Schiffman (2010), our
current economic environment is currently in the practice of destroying life, our businesses
are draining on its employees and our business practices are putting significant environmental
strains on a delicate ecosystem all in the name of financial and material gain.

Economic Globalization: global economics has been under promotion for two decades now,
all in effort to encourage standardization in the rules that regulate and control international
trading. Globalization literary refers to the process of making something gain global and
internal recognition and acceptance, a transformational process of turn simple local or
national rule or principle into an international law, or understanding. It is a process by which
people of the world are fused together into a distinct society that share a common
understanding and work as an entity; it enjoins the economical, technological, and socio-
cultural together with the political authorities of this world, Croucher (2004:10). Upon this
Jagdish (2004) substantiates further that globalization is quite often used to imply economic
globalization which means the integration of national economies into the international
economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spreading
of technology internationally. In chapter seven of the Hidden Connections Capra (2003)
further explained and brought more light on the definition of economic globalization in the
following statement during the conference;

“During the past three decades, the information technology revolution has given rise to a new
type of capitalism that is profoundly different from the one formed during the Industrial
Revolution, or the one that emerged after the Second World War. It is characterized by three
fundamental features. Its core economic activities are global; the main sources of productivity
and competitiveness are innovation, knowledge generation, and information processing; and
it is structured largely around networks of financial flows. This new global capitalism is also
referred to as “the new economy,” or simply as “globalization.” In the new economy, capital
works in real time, moving rapidly through global financial networks. From these networks it
is invested in all kinds of economic activity, and most of what is extracted as profit is
channeled back into the meta-network of financial flows.

Sophisticated information and communication technologies enable financial capital to move

rapidly from one option to another in a relentless global search for investment opportunities.
The movements of this electronically operated global casino do not follow any market logic.
The markets are continually manipulated and transformed by computer-enacted investment
strategies, subjective perceptions of influential analysts, political events in any part of the
world, and most significantly by unsuspected turbulences caused by the complex interactions
of capital flows in this highly nonlinear system”.
However though, Capra (2002) further extends that in order for the global economic
automatization process called ‘automaton’ to properly work it has to be programmed by
human actors and institutions giving rise to the new economy comprising of two crucial
components, which are values and operational rules. Capra does not hide the fact that these
automated global financial network processions do ‘…assign specific financial value to every
asset in every economy’, he clears that this is no perfect measure though, because ‘it involves
economic calculations based on advanced mathematical models, information and opinions
provided by market valuation firms, financial gurus, leading central bankers, and other
influential analysts, as well as unregulated information turbulences’; which mean that ‘the
tradable financial of any asset subject to continual adjustments is an emergent property of the
automaton’s highly nonlinear dynamics.

However, underlying all evaluations is the basic principle of unfettered capitalism: that
money-making should always be valued higher than democracy, human rights, environmental
protection or any other value… in the process entirely changing the principle’. Basically the
World Trade Organization (WTO) was initiated the mid-1990s to watch over and determine
economic globalization; so far politicians and business leaders promised that economic
globalization would benefit all the people in all countries worldwide through the process of
free trade, but instead of really sticking by this promise the organization has been responsible
for a ‘multitude of interconnected fatal consequences’ Capra (2002:129), that are affecting
especially developing countries, that are still in their developing stage in most aspects; which
brings me to the next question that Capra addresses in this book, and that is the consequences
of economic globalization.

Every decision one takes despite the level at which the decision is taken there will always be
advantages and disadvantages, benefits and consequences and the process of economic
globalization has not been an exclusion from this natural phenomenon, in this case most of
the powerful and controlling nations are benefiting the most, and the some nations are really
suffering from the entire operation. According to Capra (2003), ‘The impact of the new
economy on human well-being has been mostly negative. It has enriched global elite of
financial speculators, entrepreneurs, and high-tech professionals. At the very top, there has
been an unprecedented accumulation of wealth, and global capitalism has also benefited some
national economies, especially in Asian countries. But overall its social and environmental
consequences have been disastrous.

The rise of global capitalism has been accompanied by rising social inequality and
polarization, both internationally and within countries. In particular, poverty and social
inequality have increased through the process of social exclusion, which is a direct
consequence of the new economy’s network structure. As the flows of capital and
information interlink worldwide networks, they exclude from these networks all populations
and territories that are of no value or interest to their search for financial gain. As a result,
certain segments of societies, areas of cities, regions, and even entire countries become
economically irrelevant. Thus, a new impoverished segment of humanity has emerged around
the world as a direct consequence of globalization. It comprises large areas of the globe,
including much of Sub-Saharan Africa and rural areas of Asia and Latin America. But the
new geography of social exclusion also includes portions of every country and every city in
the world’.

Capra (2003) further explains that ‘According to the doctrine of economic globalization
known as “neo-liberalism,” the free-trade agreements imposed by the World Trade
Organization (WTO) on its member countries will increase global trade; this will create a
global economic expansion; and global economic growth will decrease poverty, because its
benefits will eventually “trickle down” to all. This reasoning is fundamentally flawed. Global
capitalism does not alleviate poverty and social exclusion; on the contrary, it exacerbates
them. Neo-liberalism has been blind to this effect because corporate economists have
traditionally excluded the social costs of economic activity from their models. Similarly, most
conventional economists have ignored the new economy’s environmental cost — the increase
and acceleration of global environmental destruction, which is as severe, if not more so, than
its social impact.

One of the tenets of neo-liberalism is that poor countries should concentrate on producing a
few special goods for export in order to obtain foreign exchange, and should import most
other commodities. This emphasis on export has led to the rapid depletion of the natural
resources required to produce export crops in country after country — diversion of fresh
water from vital rice paddies to prawn farms; a focus on water-intensive crops, such as sugar
cane, that result in dried-up river beds; conversion of good agricultural land into cash-crop
plantations; and forced migration of large numbers of farmers from their lands. All over the
world there are countless examples of how economic globalization is worsening
environmental destruction; and since money-making is the dominant value of global
capitalism, its representatives seek to eliminate environmental regulations under the guise of
“free trade” wherever they can, lest these regulations interfere with profits.

Thus the new economy causes environmental destruction not only by increasing the impact of
its operations on the world’s ecosystems, but also by eliminating national environmental laws
in country after country. In other words, environmental destruction is not only a side effect,
but is also an integral part of the design of global capitalism’ Capra (2003). One can clearly
see that in scientific perspective the world is not really benefiting from the issue of economic
globalization considering the number of consequences the whole program brings and foretells
for the future in relation to the benefits, personally I see more disadvantages and more
consequences accumulated in the entire operation coming in the name of money making and
development.

The worst part of this whole motion is that its future impact on the natural vegetation of the
world is really unpleasant, trees are being cut out in the name of development, and minerals
are being extremely extracted at rate that the replenishment process is by many times left
behind, fumes and harmful gases from factories and industries are being emitted in the
atmosphere, marine resources have been exploited without the really consideration of the
impact such activities may have o the world environment in the near future, or the impact on
the biodiversity of lives in different habitats on the planet.

In summary the process of economic globalization have consequences such as social

disintegration, the breakdown of the principles of democracy, the rapid and extensive
deterioration of the environment, the spreading and continual dispersation of new
consequential diseases cropping-up as result of activities, rise and increase in poverty which
will end up causing alienation and separation; the operation also result obsessive corporate
mergers, and acquisition which entail colossal amounts of stress and hardships to the
workforce without bringing greater corporate efficiency or benefit, Capra (2002:129-142).

Since the new economy is organized according to the so-called quintessential or prototypical
capitalist principle, it is not surprising that it has produced a multitude of interconnected
harmful consequences that are in sharp contradiction to the ideals of the global Green
movement: rising social inequality and social exclusion, a breakdown of democracy, more
rapid and extensive deterioration of the natural environment, and increasing poverty and
alienation. The new global capitalism has threatened and destroyed local communities around
the world; and with the pursuit of an ill-conceived biotechnology, it has invaded the sanctity
of life by attempting to turn diversity into monoculture, ecology into engineering, and life
itself into a commodity.

It has so far become increasingly clear that global capitalism in its present form is
unsustainable and needs to be fundamentally redesigned, Capra (2002b). From Capra’s
perspective one can easily and simply figure out just how much negative impact the notion of
economic globalization has had in the entire world. Instead of this being as it was basically
instituted it has actually taken a different turn from the basically promoted ideology of the
main venture; and if this continues as it is, if these so-called guiding principles are not
reviewed and redressed then we are definitely meant to loose our planet voluntarily, and by
our own actions and activities.

The next issue that Capra looks at in the book the Hidden Connections is the aspect of
biotechnology. According to the online encyclopedic dictionary-Wikipedia (2010)
biotechnology refers to a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms
and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bio-
products, the concept encompasses a wide range of procedures (and history) for modifying
living organisms according to human purposes - going back to domestication of animals,
cultivation of plants, and "improvements" to these through breeding programs that employ
artificial selection and hybridization.

This sounds really good, from the sound of it one would save the world, it definitely sounds
like it is going to restore and repair the world vegetation of all the damages that we have
caused through international laws. According to De Francesco (2004), Capra singles out
singles out biotechnology as an example of an industry corrupted by the profit motive. With
its intentionally oversimplified notions of biology, the biotech industry, in Capra's view, is
clearly on the wrong path to achieve its goals, whether they be curing disease or improving
agricultural practices. "As long as this overriding value exists, it's difficult to imagine a
responsible biotechnology," he says. In his view it has "invaded the very sanctity of life."

During the initiation of the Green Revolution back in the 1960s the general understanding
was that agriculture was to redeem the world’s natural resources from extinction, in this time
the world experienced extreme productivity in the agricultural sector especially in Asia and
Latin America where tremendous amounts of rice, wheat and maize were harvested.
According to an online article by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations ‘What FAQ Does’, (2010), these revolution came into being because after the heavy
harvests the governments of both developed and developing countries decided to heavily
invest in agriculture, leading into a critical agricultural research upon which modern scientific
measures were put to use in order to increase productivity even more, and this resulted in
natural agricultural practices being cast aside, and the adoption of new guidelines, all aimed
at immense productivity. The article further states that ‘intensive breeding and selection led to
the development of high-yielding varieties of crops and more productive breeds of livestock.
Upon this was a breakthrough in the developments of agro-chemicals, such as pesticides and
fertilizers; …governments even supported producers or farmers with encouragements to use
these new farming techniques and technologies’.
The articles further mentions that the Green Revolution was initially perceived as a
tremendous success that seemed to maintain the equilibrium between population growth and
productivity, meaning that for a considerable period of time food prices were sustained
without fluctuations. But despite this good part of the Green Revolution Project it has been
proven since the 90s that the Green Revolution’s introduction and extensive came with
implicating consequences; it has basically vanquished our natural agricultural biodiversity,
pesticides and fertilizers have on their caused severe environmental degradation and
endangered public health, used massive amounts of waters, totally draining some water
sources; and finally, despite higher agricultural productivity, hunger still persists.

Schiffman (2010) in her presentation states that the aspect of ‘biotech proponents promise
positive effects of genetically engineered commodities such as new crop varieties that will be
insect-resistant ad fruits that will stay fresh indefinitely.’ This is the general idea that comes
into somebody’s mind when they hear of the issue of biotechnology, but According to
Wackernagel et al. (2002), ‘the global population is currently consuming natural resources at
a rate of 120% of what the earth can regenerate; and David Goodstein (2004:128), who is
professor of physics and provost of Cal Tech, assesses the present state of fossil fuel reserves
and predicts that we will deplete the earth’s fossil fuels within the next 40-100 years. Our
propensity for consuming fossil fuels has accelerated the melting of the polar ice caps within
the last 20 years, aggravated by the rapid accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Due
to the fact that we have already damaged key components of the biosphere such as forests,
waterways, fisheries and the ozone layer, we cannot forestall action’.

So, Schiffman (2010) states that the issue of biotechnology sings the same sound as that of
the Green Revolution, that after a certain period of use had detrimental consequences of the
entire ecosystem and biodiversity. The Talloires Declaration (1990) was signed by several
university leaders echoing the call to the precarious and delicate state of the environment and
global society, as all life and general activities I the biosphere depend significantly on a
healthy environment. The specific motive behind the Declaration is an urgent call for prompt
action upon the issue, suggesting the development and employment of environmentally
favorable technologies or inventions that we can ensure more sustainability in the future of
humanity.

We are slowly depleting our own planet of its life-sustaining powers and abilities, if only we
could all look into one direction I believe the situation would be different, the world seem to
be ok at the moment though we are already experiencing some of the results of our
irresponsibility, for example the world is experiencing extreme temperatures, due to the
diminution of the protective ozone layer the world is experiencing extreme heating which is
the indirect cause of flooding in many areas of the world because huge parks of icebergs that
help keep water in place have been melting to these temperatures, and we are as if we cant see
the effect of the things we do on earth’s ecosystems the situation is getting worse instead of
getting better. Some of the harms we are causing in the name of development can really be
avoided and prevented thus protecting and prolonging life on planet earth for the future.

An Ecological Alternative: ecology normally refers to the scientific study of the relation of
living organisms to each other and their surrounding which practically includes the study of
plants and animal populations, communities as well as ecosystems. It focuses on the range of
living phenomena beginning from the complicated role of bacteria in nutrient recycling to the
effects of tropical rain forest on the earth’s atmosphere (Begon, 2006). This is why people
need to be educated and well-informed on the basic principles of ecology, so that we can try
to reduce all the detrimental activities that are destroying our planet’s ecosystems, which
introduces us to the concept ‘Ecoliteracy and ecodesign’. When people and the world
altogether is educated on the principles that define the well-being of the ecosystems, we may
just be in position to save our world from total annihilation and exhaustion that can see it
crumbling to total ruin.

Capra acquits upon Ecoliteracy that the understanding of the principles of organization that
ecosystems have evolved to sustain the web of life is actually the primary step on the way to
sustainability; further stating that moving towards ecodesign is the second step in the entire
process of sustainability, which practically means we should apply ecological knowledge to
the fundamental redesigning and restyling of our technologies and social institutions, thus
bridging the existing gap between human design and the ecologically sustainable systems of
nature, Capra (2002). This does mean that we need recreate the world by changing this or
that, for the planet has its own natural foundation and all that we need to do is to change the
way we treat it, and try to remodel upon its naturally existing foundation. The fact of the
matter is there is some great degree of negligence in the people's atitude pertaining the
dangers we impose on our ecosystems despite being first-hand witnesses to the results of our
own activities. If only we can get people properly aware of the harm and the future
implication of their activities, people could really work towards change and restoration.

Upon this he further declares that organic farming can be an efficient ecological alternative
which ‘preserves and sustains ecological cycles, integrating their biological processes into the
process of food production’ Capra (2002:191). Organic farming is actually then kind of
agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and
biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on farms, its is a kind
agriculture that strictly limits the use of artificially manufactured fertilizers, pesticides, and
plant growth regulators such as antibiotics for livestock, hormones, food additives and
genetically modified organisms, and takes advantage of on-site resources, such as livestock
manure for fertilizer or feed produced on the farm, choosing plants and animals species that
are resistant to diseases and adapted to local conditions, raising livestock in free-range, open-
air systems and providing the animals with organic feed, as well as using animal husbandry
practices according different livestock species (European Commission, 2010). And in
addition to the above mentioned reality when soil is cultivated organically, its carbon content
increases, and this vitally contributes to reducing global warming, Capra (2002:191).

We don’t need to go beyond our abilities and resources to successfully restore our ecosystems
to their natural state; all we need to do is to learn to respect the rules of nature as well as the
principles of ecology. When God created the world he ensured that it was self-sustaining
phenomena that needed only a few touches from human under the auspice of caretaker. The
Bible says inn Genesis that after God had created everything, the earth and all in it, the
seas/oceans and all in them, and the skies and all in them He saw that it was all good, and
Man, being the last of creation was to be the caretaker placed in the Garden of Eden. Being
caretaker didn’t imply destroying God’s creation, no wonder Capra (2004) says uses the term
“invaded the sanctity of life”. Everything was initially perfect and was created to perfectly
sustain itself, and all organisms in its realms, but then we have slowly diminished the earth’s
natural restoration abilities, courtesy of development, technology and dynamism.

So far the principles of ecology are not so difficult to comprehend and follow, Capra (2002)
simplifies them as follows;
Networks: as we have already seen in this essay the unrelenting networking of organisms,
networks within networks. We also saw just how living systems communicate with one
another and share resources even beyond the margins of their reach,

Cycles: this must be general knowledge at this time in life, we generally should accept the
reality that all living organisms feed on continual flows of matter and energy within their
environment to sustain life, and acknowledge the reality that all organisms produce waste. It
is also of greater to note that the ecosystem itself does not produce any waste because one
organism’s waste happens to be the next specie’s food, so in the end nothing really goes to
waste, almost everything is useful in one way or another making matter cycle continually
through the web of life,

Solar energy: we all need sunlight, both plants and people. Sunlight is the common source of
vitamin D for animals, and green plants transform sunlight to chemical energy by the process
of photosynthesis, making plants the ultimate source of food for both animals and human
beings on the entire planet, running the ecological cycle accordingly,

Partnership: it is of greater importance to note that the exchanges of energy and resources in
an ecosystem get sustained through pervasive co-operation, stating the verity that life came
by co-operation, partnership and networking,

Diversity: under this aspect Capra mentions that ecosystems achieve stability and resilience
through the richness and complexity their ecological webs, and the greater the biodiversity,
the more the resilience and buoyancy. These clearly show just how nature adapts and adjusts
to its natural environment or any other factors that triggers reactions of the organisms.

Dynamic Balance: ecosystem is no stationery realms; they are actually flexible and ever
fluctuating, and its flexibility come as consequence of multiple feedback loops that keep the
system in the state of dynamic balance. Therefore all ecosystem variables fluctuate around
their optimal values.

If we only we stick by these principles, and do everything in careful consideration of the

involved dangers we would really be on the right path by now. So far our ignorance and
negligence is slowly making us pay through what we choose to call ‘natural catastrophes’
when in reality these are no more natural calamities but rather man-made, our activities are
making our world prone to harm. I really wouldn’t say we do this unknowingly considering
the level of both the general, social and scientific knowledge of the world at this moment.
Everybody is educated today making it quite easier for any transmission of information. The
people in the science departments of the world fully understand the consequences of the
activities they invent and institute in the name of science and invention. This is what makes
Ecoliteracy and ecodesign subjects of concern to the future-concerned citizens of this planet,
for if we get the people to understand this reality the situation may improve towards a
positive and conducive future.

The Role of NGOs: Everybody that is an inhabitant of this planet is practically and directly
involved in either destroying it or restoring it. In one way or another we all contribute to this
paradoxical situation, each one of us fall into one of these categories, and this include the
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The encyclopedic online dictionary (Wikipedia,
2010) defines NGOs as follows, ‘A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally
constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from
any government and a term usually used by governments to refer to entities that have no
government status. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by
governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government
representatives from membership in the organization. The term is usually applied only to
organizations that pursue some wider social aim that has political aspects, but that are not
overtly political organizations such as political parties. Unlike the term "intergovernmental
organization", the term "non-governmental organization" has no generally agreed legal
definition. In many jurisdictions, these types of organization are called "civil society
organizations" or referred to by other names’.

These organizations are operated separately from governments; they are stand-alone
organizations that globally strive for the betterment of the ordinary or common people world-
wide. There are so far both local/national and international Non-Governmental Organization
in the entire world established for a diversity of activities, as they see fit, sometimes
according to local, national, international or even global needs; they can either be charitable
orientation; service orientation; participatory orientation; or empowering orientation type, and
are always non-profit making organizations. These organizations’ primary aim is to help
promote and encourage collaborations, relationships or partnerships between NGOs in all
countries throughout the world, so that together and as an entity we can more effectively
cohort with the United Nations (UN) and each other so that we are able to create a more
peaceful, serene, just, equitable and sustainable world for our generation as well as for the
upcoming future generations.

According to Capra (2002) ‘At the turn of this century, an impressive global coalition of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), many of them led by men and women with deep
personal roots in the sixties, formed around the core values of human dignity and ecological
sustainability. In 1999, hundreds of these grassroots organizations interlinked electronically
for several months to prepare for joint protest actions at the meeting of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in Seattle. The "Seattle Coalition," as it is now called, was extremely
successful in derailing the WTO meeting and in making its views known to the world. Its
concerted actions have permanently changed the political climate around the issue of
economic globalization’… and furthers that ‘At the second of these meetings, the NGOs
proposed a whole set of alternative trade policies, including concrete and radical proposals for
restructuring global financial institutions, which would profoundly change the nature of
globalization’.

So far ‘the global justice movement exemplifies a new kind of political movement that is
typical of our Information Age. Because of their skillful use of the Internet, the NGOs in the
coalition are able to network with each other, share information, and mobilize their members
with unprecedented speed. As a result, the new global NGOs have emerged as effective
political actors who are independent of traditional national or international institutions. They
constitute a new kind of global civil society. This new form of alternative global community,
sharing core values and making extensive use of electronic networks in addition to frequent
human contacts, is one of the most important legacies of the sixties; and if it succeeds in
reshaping economic globalization so as to make it compatible with the values of human
dignity and ecological sustainability,’…during the sixties the most important and enduring
legacy of that the world community developed has been the creation and subsequent
flourishing of a global alternative culture that shares a set of core values. Although many of
these values e.g. environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, global justice — were shaped by
cultural movements in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, their essential core was first
expressed by the sixties' counterculture. Therefore, many of today's senior progressive
political activists, writers, and community leaders trace the roots of their original inspiration
back to the sixties’ Capra (2002).

This is basically the much the NGOs strives to do, to restore the world to its naturally
vegetative state, to help the poor and the needy, and hope to help those ravaged by natural
catastrophes such as flooding, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, famines
and many other calamitous situations. Many countries that struggle economically or affected
by any kind of difficulties have benefited from these non-governmental organizations in
many ways such as in food relief programs, volunteer teachers from a diversity of developed
countries, financially sponsorships, and further educational sponsorships, and many other
ways.

According to Schiffman (2010), NGOs have been building people power over the past decade
in hopes of establishing a more systematic approach to the issues that the world faces today;
and that they are working to rewrite the rules of globalization and thus, begin taking the steps
to save ourselves from its (globalization) ill-effects. There are numerous dilemmas that the
world face today, upon which decisions taken really matter and determine the fate of the
world and its future. The common people that are not so literate on environmental, ecological,
economical and social issues that really affect the our biodiversity inevitably fail to recognize
or even realize the dangers and harm our activities perpetuate on our planet’s natural
environment; the funny thing concerning this whole scenario is the people we consider
developed, educated and industrial super-powers, who are supposed to be the ones coming up
conducive measures to save and restore our ecosystems are primarily the ones that are really
creating and imposing the highest destructive impact on our planet.

It is a matter of fact that most under-developed countries do not use most of the harmful
substances for they still rely mostly on natural provisions compared to developed countries
where almost every useable object is artificially manipulated, and without real consideration
of their level of detriment simply get disposed in the natural environment, making victims of
the poorly under-developed nations in the neighborhood. These countries (developing)
without any proper scientific measures to redeem themselves from the immediate effects of
such disposal inevitably fall fatalities in situations like this, ending up having overwhelming
outbreaks they can’t really deal with. It is the developed world that is fully responsible for the
destruction and diminishing of our natural vegetations, and I personally hold them responsible
because despite their vast and advanced knowledge upon these issues they still do the worst
they can do on the environment.

Bunge (2002:233) mentions that the rational first step at the moment is to wade towards
sustainability, and the second step being the one that involves Ecodesign where ‘we need to
apply our ecological knowledge to the fundamental redesign of our technologies and social
institutions’ and as stated in process bridging the separating opening between the two,
(technology and social institution). When we all work towards this idea, the idea of improve
and caring for our world we would change a great deal of the happenings around the world;
which could practically lead to the quick restoration of our planet before we bring it its total
destruction. The reality that we are destroying our vegetation which is our natural source of
food and oxygen, we are actually putting ourselves at risk. Plants need us (animals) just as
much as we need them, they depend on us the same way we depend on them. Upon this is
part played by non-living objects such as water, air, the soil and all other abiotic matters that
are vital to our sustenance of life. They form part of ecosystem even if they are non-living,
they contribute greatly to self-sustaining abilities of our planet and form part of the web of
life in one way or another, without water plants would wilt, and animals would die of thirst,
and without air both plants and animals would suffocate, and with no soil there wouldn’t be
plants for us to feed on. So this is life in its real form, all contributing factors are vital to the
sustainability of life in the future.

CONCLUSION

This essay is quite practically applicable in our real life situation; it fully conveys the
primary hypothesis of the Capra’s book “The Hidden Connections”. It simplifies the
complicated and enormous amount of information the entire book holds, and most of all it is
highly educative and reasonable, comprising of almost every component that matters in life
on this planet. In this assignment I learned the importance of understanding the chains of life
as well as the flows of energy within the unrelenting interconnecting chains of life. It is so
simple, I practically learned that plants need dead organic materials for food, herbivorous
animals feed on those plants, and the carnivorous animals feed on those herbivorous animals,
and later they all die providing manure back into the soil which plants will suck-up once
again to grow, simply explaining the theory of producers and consumers.

I also learned in this study that despite the efforts made by Rene Descartes to define life and
help the world understand there are some facts which would have helped him define it even
better if only he paid more attention to important factors that save as the basis of life. The
Hidden Connection is book, which if taken seriously and put to action is meant to bring back
and revive our world to its initial natural splendor. The book gives it all, it clearly defines just
how we have ravaged and slowly defiled and interfered with our natural world destroying its
most intimate chambers of life, and ignoring the important rules of nature, which in turn has
brought us nothing but turmoil and complexities, and with long-lasting effects.

In the development of weaponry, back in 1945 atomic bombs were created with devastating
long lasting effects on the environment, and the vegetation alike including all the living
organisms within its reach. Wasn’t this supposed to be a scientific break-through in the
science of war? But in the end this defined the ultimate weapon with which man will
completely annihilate the entire universe including destroying himself. This may have sound
good to those in possession but the later consequences rings the cries of nature as it is being
slowly vanquished by the nuclear effects, and radiation.

Technology so far came up with many efficient measures of doing things increasing
productivity in the process, many cars and machineries that emit harmful gases into the
atmosphere have been heavily produced, huge upon tremendous amounts of fossil fuel gases
have been gushed out into the atmosphere sucking out the gases important to the maintenance
of the ultra-violet ray protective ozone layer and this has resulted in extreme temperature in
our world today. Technology once again increased productivity in the agricultural sector so
as to sustain the world’s ever growing population, and so they introduced genetically
modified products that also have effects on the animals that feed on them including human
beings, thus breaking the natural rules of replenishment. This was meant to be a scientific
break-through as well but later backfired. Fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and many other
chemicals meant to advance humanity and help prevent the world from starvation have turned
out to fatal substances, whereby when washed down the streams during rain and flood
seasons they affect the water upon which most wild organisms and animals depend for water,
the animals drink such water and get affected, some die from the effects, while some develop
resistance to the effects but continue to carry the resulting illness/disease of which people will
kill for meat, and eat the infected meant which obviously will cause undesirable
consequences.

All these ugly and unexpected occurrences could be avoided if only we respected the rules of
nature from the beginning; we have so far lost most of rainforests and natural vegetations
through the processes of development and scientific inventions. If only we understand the
principles that give meaning to life we could know how to treat the natural surrounding of our
biodiversity and all the other contributing factors we could still have our natural vegetations
just as they were from creation. I personally understand the fact that the world population is
increasing rapidly, but this increase in population must not meant extreme and speedy
destruction of our planet, we should follow Capra’s suggestion of Ecoliteracy and ecodesign
for if we are able to put those suggestion into real-life activities we really make a significant
recovery of the lost natural vegetations of our planet in no time.

Most importantly also in this study I learned the real and practical definition of life and
systems, as well as the social networking of organisms as they evolve and adapt to their
environment. I also understood the real meaning of cognition through a close evaluation and
study of the Santiago theory in contrast to the Rene Descartes theory of Dualism, I can at this
moment proudly relate to the world the greater impact this book can have on the world if only
we take it serious, in this study I also understood that life is itself a network, a web and cycle
that maintains the constant flow of energy from one organism to another, and a lot other
things I once never understood.

If we really want save our world for our children, and the children of their children, we really
need to act now before it is too late, there is always as that ‘prevention is better than cue’ this
is quite real in this situation, preventing our world from getting destroyed by our own
activities is a better alternative than trying to salvage the remaining patches after destroying it
to ruins. This is why Capra suggested the ecological alternative, repairing the world by us can
be difficult but the good thing is that our world has natural abilities to restore itself if given a
chance of restoration. At this moment in time there already millions of totally extinct species
that once existed and defined the beauty of our world. We can still save and manage to
replenish the remaining species if take into serious consideration the suggestions made by
Capra in his book “The Hidden Connections”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Barbara Vogl, (2010). PATTERNS – Interview with Fritjof Capra.

http://www.haven.net/patterns/capra.html (date accessed, November 28, 2010)
2. Bhagwati, Jagdish (2004). In Defense of Globalization. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.

3. Capra, Fritjof (2002b). Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Reflections on the Spirit and Legacy of the Sixties, December 1, 2002. Mindwalk,
http://www.terebess.hu/english/capra2.html (accessed on December 6, 2010)

4. Capra, Fritjof (2003). FSM - A Ciência para um Vida Sustentável - Conferência

completa proferida. EcoAgencia de Noticias, January 26, 2003.
http://www.agirazul.com.br/fsm4/_fsm/0000006a.html (accessed on December 6th,
2010)

5. Capra, Fritjof, (2002). The Hidden Connections. New York, USA: Doubleday a
division of Random House Inc,

6. Descartes, René (1644). The Principles of Philosophy (IX).

7. European Commission, (2010). Organic Farming: Good for nature, good for you.
http://www.ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/organic-farming/what-organic_en (date
accessed December 10, 2010)

8. Food and agricultural Organization of the United Nations, (2010). What FAQ Does:
Food Forever (The Green Revolution). FAQ: United Nations,
http://www.fao.org/kids/en/revolution.html (date accessed December 7, 2010).

9. Goodstein, David (2004) Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil, W.W. New York:
Norton and Company, p.128

10. Laura De Francesco (2004). Profile: Capra Fritjof: Nature Biotechnology. San
Francisco: Nature Publishing

11. Maturana, Humberto R. & Varela, Francisco J, (1980). Autopoiesis and Cognition.
The Realization of the Living. Dordrecht: Reidel, p. 13.

12. Philip S, Wenz (December, 2002). Connecting With Fritjof Capra. Ecotecture.
http://www.ecotecture.com/library_eco/interviews/capra1a.html

13. Pier Luigi, L (2008). The Emergence of Life-From Chemical Origin to Synthetic
Biology. Cambridge University Press,

14. Sheila L, Croucher (2004). Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity a
Changing World. Rowman & Littlefield, p.10

15. The Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, (1990). The
Talloires Declaration. Washington, DC, available on-line at
www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires_td.html (accessed on December 7, 2010)

16. Wackernagel, M., N.B. Schulz, D. Deumling, A. Callejas Linares, M. Jenkins, V.

Kapos, C.Monfreda, J. Loh, N. Myers, R. Nargaard, and J. Randers (2002) “Tracking
 the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy,” Proceedings of the National
Academies of Sciences 99: 9266-9271.

17. Wenger, Etienne, (1998). Communities of Practice. Cambridge University Press:

18. Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice. Healthcare Forum Journal/August:

(1996).

19. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2010). Non-Governmental Organizations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/non-governmental_organizations.html (date accessed
December 11, 2010).