Slavery: the different levels.

Slavery in our societies is formally abolished.
But when you look at the world carefully, you will find slavery everywhere.
Take the obvious exemple: farm animals. The system around institutionalized enslavement of animals is so widespread, so deep, that most of us humans don't even think about it as slavery.
It is sort of normal for most of us that animals are born and then slaughtered for their meat.
I would like to stress here that they are slaughtered. Human slaves weren't usually killed, they were just exploited for their work, and while one could argue that it is even worse than being raised for meat, it clearly shows that a double standard is applied to non-human animals.
And I respect that.

Humans first.

What is a human, though? Insofar as we are a collection of cells, we are a walking zoo of oppressed and slaughtered organs.
Take the skin. An average skin cell lives for about 3 months. When they are born, they are relatively close to the veins bringing nutrients and oxygen, but as weeks go by and they are getting pushed to the outside, they are ever more dehydrated. UV light bombardment is rampant, and slowly their heighbors to the top start to die off. There are no more arteries feeding them directly, they have to ask their neighbors for nutrients and water, but those are themselves stripped of those valuable resources as they approach the outside world. A skin cell's story is that of a slow but certain decay through malnourishment as the body has more use for them dead than alive. Indeed, epidermic skin cells spend months protecting the organism after they are dead.
Red blood cells? Their lifespan is about 60 days. They start their life shedding their nucleus, so they are not even technically 'you'. They are pushed helplessly around your body, swelling and deflating as you hydrate/dehydrate. Women just discard millions of them on a monthly basis, no luck if one happens to cater for the uterus on those days.
Barely born, stripped of your identity, guaranteed short lifespan and a restless existence. is that of a red blood cell. Definitely not a life worth living.
Neurons seem to be the better off of all of our cells. Eternally at 37 degrees celsius, well-fed and kept from harm inside the cranium, the brain must be doing well, right?
Not so fast! Neurons in the cerebellum never stop working. In fact, if they halted, you would die. They are constantly poked by hundreds of other neurons until they themselves 'poke out' in a burst of action potential. Then alcohol is flooding the brain, slowing down transmission between those neurons, and as those neurons get less excitation from other neurons, they slowly fade out of their function and die. Be at 120% readyness 24/7 and work ceaselessly or die! That's a neuron's existence.

It is easy to see how complex organisms such as ourselves couldn't live without some level of cellular submission. In fact, the second a cell stops obeying you is when you get cancer. Evolution made sure of a nearly perfect compliance of the cells with the rule of the higher order entity: you.



So next time you see people interact in some sort of hierarchical manner, don't be shocked. Celebrate the efficiency of hierarchical systems that allow for complexity and ultimately... beauty.