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The past week was a particularly interesting one. It amazed me to learn that we actually share a closer kinship with bacteria than with plants, as both (humans and bacteria) are heterotrophs! It would never have occured to me, otherwise. I always felt a stronger relation with plants, as they are larger and closer to our spatial scale. This also made me think of how we've established a sort of heirarchy in the classification system. Despite the heirarchy, however, I believe the classification system is more of a.. horizontal platform, where all creatures are placed at the same level and given the same amount of importance: no creature is superior to another. A few might be more "developed" (humans vs bacteria) but this should not give them undue privelleges (eg, humans killing animals/trees because they are "superior", placed higher up in the heirarchy and have the apparent right to do so). The horizontal set up dwells more on chronological appearance and development.

Also, the degree of complexity of unlikely assemblies at different levels really fascinated me! I was inititally confused by the zooming in and zooming out of the lily pond in class, but I later understood it's significance. To my naked eye, the surface of a table-top looks smooth. However, on zooming in a few hundred times, I wouldn't be surprised to find the same table top with a rocky, mountain-like terrain, filled with jagged edges and dust particles that were not visible before. This furthur made me think about the importance of an individual's perspective and perception.