Accordingly, we suggest that the following table provides an illustration of the phylogenetically derived facilities that characterize a series of recognized human social ecosystems. Each column in the table, one for each social ecosystem, presents a set of phylogenetically derived capabilities presented by the individual human that, through cumulative aggregation, effects the capabilities, and hence the effectiveness of the respective grouping mechanism. Each row in the table illustrates the ontogenetically derived stimulus for action that corresponds to Maslow’s hierarchy. Within the table, the immediacy of interaction stimuli is greatest in the bottom row and diminishes as one goes up any column. Also, within the table time marches from left to right, with earliest developments toward the left-hand side of the table and more recent developments toward the right-hand side of the table. So, let’s do a cursory run-through of the table starting at the lower left and considering each successively higher row in a left-to-right fashion.

Pretergenesis

The most immediate or urgent needs of an individual are the physiological needs. These needs elicit a stimulus response driven by an appetite when a need is unfulfilled. For the individual, we can characterize the sating of this appetite as occurring through instinct. If the oxygen content in the blood is too low then a rise in carbon dioxide levels triggers an autonomic response to breathe; this is true for the newborn infant as well as for the adult. If thirst indicates a strong need for water, or hunger for food, an infant will typically indicate a sense of the deficiency by crying. Correspondingly, if food is placed in the mouth of the infant, particularly when something touches the roof of the mouth, the baby begins a sucking response to ingest the food; infants can really only handle liquid foods. Touch a baby on its cheek and it will turn its head in that direction in anticipation of finding a breast to suckle. Instinctive stimuli will not, of course, allow the infant human to independently make its own way in the world.

Acquiring food and water, staying within breathable air, keeping warm, or at least not freezing, along with all the other behaviors for responding to our various physiological appetites, are

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