“Living beings hitchhike… they follow the previously established paths and routes that other beings forge. When we watch birds we can see that flocks and flows of birds use each others’ efforts … they ‘ride’ upon the efforts of those that go before them. So, too, in human lives and routes, we follow such paths without thinking. We have roads, trails and other kinds of routes… in thought, the mind, relations, work… we go where others have gone before, or where the going appears to be easiest. This has some facility, and can be useful if we are weakened or vulnerable… but it is also extremely dangerous, especially where we speak of social or mental ‘norms’. A billion people will replicate a meme, behavior or thought-form that is toxic and grows more expensive with each repetition. Every time we use a ‘vehicle’ that burns fuel, we replicate the behaviors of ancestors who became dependent upon machines. The costs become more catastrophic with every repetition. Many of the paths ‘forged’ by those who came before us are lethal. This is especially true in the ‘norms’ of thought, behavior and relation that are now a part of our common social and relational contexts. In nature, ‘drafting’ upon the efforts of living cohorts produces benefit, but in human culture the results are often nearly the opposite of benefit. Something we call ‘convenience’, and this is something that becomes more compelling, deceptive and damaging every time we participate. There are, of course, exceptions in human life and thought, relation and activity. These we should notice and treasure, but so too, we should notice and reject their shadows… the shadows of ways that are not really paths at all… they are the imprint of error in the living context of life and nature.”

— an anonymous informant