1, 2, 3 - Anatomy, pathology and physiology of a State - cells

Here we start our comparison between a living - human – body and a State. To understand how close we can relate them, we will begin by looking at what they are made of. We are likely to need a microscope, then. We will analyse structure, function and disease.

Cells like individuals

Cells are the fundamental basis of any living being. Nothing smaller or simpler than a cell can be living. If it lives, it is either a cell or made of cells. Similarly, in a State the fundamental unit is the individual. Nothing less than an individual person can be a working part of the State. And if it is part of the State, it is either a person, a group of people or a concept thought by people.

Cells belonging to the same organism are very similar, sharing a common genetic background and all contributing to the same system; and yet can be very different, specialized in a variety of tasks, subject to a variety of stimuli and stresses. For very similar reasons, just transposed in a different context, people can also be very similar and yet extremely different. This duplicity can result in social rivalry when not correctly handled; instead, in a positive context, it is a source of amazing synergy and adaptability.

http://leavingbio.net/heredity-ordinary-level/

In cells, the information on their components - to be synthetized and used to run the biological machine - are codified in the genome. The whole cellular genome is the genotype. Genotype and environmental stimuli combine in variable proportions to determine the cellulr observable features like morphology, physiology and behavior - the phenotype. Adding to this, cells have ways - epigenetic - to make specific parts of the genome more accessible than others, allowing them to contribute more to the phenotype. Since we are using cells as a similitude for individuals, the environment surrounding cells becomes the environment surrouding people - complete with family, job, free time, everything filled with other people. We can then identify the genotype as attitude and education, both formal and not. Just like the genotype contains the information of a cell, drives its responses to specific situations and defines its overall existance, attitude is the basal orientation of a character while education embodies the information an individual is taught. Attitude and education both are fundaments of everyone's mindset. They also set the strategies for any interpersonal interaction and any further learning.

Thus, just like environment and genotype act in concert to bring forth the phenotype in cells, environment, attitude and education are the fundamental factors which shape people's lives. While theoretically many people could find themselves in very similar or identical situations, the combination of those factors makes sure that everyone lives in a different a unique way. That is reflected by how cells in a human body, while sharing same genotype, turn out very differently. Epigenetic is one of the major causes of it: different cells have access to very different portions of their genome. Likewise, we can speculate that every person could potentially receive any type of education and thus assuming any role in the society. When specializing on an educative path, everyone choose what he may become; and paths to other education - and information - are locked, in a way. 

Enough disfunctional cells and individuals can affect bodies and States

Thus, in our system cells are comparable to individuals and work like individuals: cells have to cooperate in order to build a functioning body, just like people have to cooperate to build a functioning State. However, what happens on the pathological side? What happens to a body when a cells starts to not properly work? How many cells have to stop working for the body's situation being compromised? And how much is the cells' role in the body relevant to this?

The answer to the last question is: yes, of course. A cell's role is very relevant to the pathology the cell itself may be involved in. Different organs retains different functions, some more vital than others. And some organs are more easy to damage and any not properly working cell becomes a liability. Conversely, because of their position in the society, some individuals are more important than others for a correct functioning of the State. To expand on these details, we will treat specific organs - and State apparatuses - and analyze how different pathological situations may reflect differently on the body - and the State.

Diseased and dead cells can't make working organs. So, non

functional individuals do not properly contribute to the society.

http://ocw.tufts.edu/Content/51/lecturenotes/551163/551236

For now, I just aim to establish another parallelism between medical science and social science: any issue, in a living body as in a State, starts with the most fundamental units - be them cells or individual people. Any disease, any problem, must surface at the cellular - and individual - level. No disease can make its way without affecting cells - proteins can be damaged, the genome can contain errors and so on, but if cells do not become diseased the issue may never become manifest. No problem in a person's life can affect the State if that person can keep the problem in check and remain a functional part of the society.

Of course, no organ can be diseased if all the cells composing it are healthy. And no apparatus of the State can have issues if all the people working for it are doing everything fine. This begs to introduce the point of indirect causes: an organ can be fine by itself, but will develop a disease because of another system failing to work properly. For instance, all organs require a blood flow to function and any serious issue of the circulatory system is likely to have dire consequences for the whole body. Even in that case, the organ failure will be the result on its cells suffering in conditions of insufficient blood flow. To keep our metaphor going, the apparatuses of a State again work the same as a body organs. An efficient apparatus depending on an inefficient one will become inefficient itself. And the general inefficiency in both cases will depend on inefficiency at the individual level - maybe in the management, maybe in the workforce.

To conclude, this was to introduce the cell - and the individual person - as the simplest level in the organization of a body - and a State. From these basis, we will take steps into looking up at higher levels of complexity. By going from cells to tissues to organs, and presenting them as examples, we will gain more insight into how a State works - or does not.