Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Ecoentanglement: In Depth

What is ecoentanglement?

Ecoentanglement describes the interconnected nature of all entities. It is an extension and interweaving of multiple established ideas, first of which is the butterfly effect.

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect describes how any action can ripple out, resulting in further actions which increase in magnitude. Ripples in water are commonly thought of as a visual for the butterfly effect. Like the butterfly effect, water ripples are a result of a small change, vary based on initial conditions, and grow in size and unpredictability as they spread outwards.
     But the limitation of the butterfly effect is that it only describes action.
     Ecoentanglement is a state of connection that is pre-existent. It suggests that living and non-living entities are already connected, and that processes such as the butterfly effect, where any small action can lead to increasing unpredictable results, only serve to highlight this connection, like how light from a bulb highlights the existence of a connection between bulb and switch—notable, the copper wire. Ecoentanglement is the state of being connected by that wire.


Spooky Action at a Distance

Another influence of the concept of ecoentanglement is the theory of quantum entanglement, what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”. Quantum entanglement is when two quantum objects—most often particles—are linked to each other in such a way that they maintain the same properties even when separated by vast distances and faced with unpredictable change. The state of each particle will never differ from the other; no matter what forces are imposed on one, the other will always show the same changes as a result of these forces, as if they can communicate with one another instantaneously.
     Quantum entangled particles demonstrate the ecoentanglement of all things, and prove the possibility of an intrinsic connection  between discrete matter, a connection that exists prior to the action of the butterfly effect.

Mesh of Interconnection

Timothy Morton describes all things as being caught up in a “mesh of interconnection” (Morton 44). Within this mesh, all things are connected. Ecoentanglement is as an extension of this idea. If something can be said to exist within the mesh of interconnection, then it has the property of ecoentanglement.
    Ecoentanglement is a broader and deeper understanding of traditional, physical entanglement. When something is ecoentangled, it is connected to the vast web of other ecoentangled things. Ecoentanglement knows no borders of land, sea or sky. With humanity’s ventures into outer space, it does not even stop at the airless edges of the world. It spans all space—as well as all time, both past, present and future.
     You can envision ecoentanglement as the state of a bug when it’s caught in a spider’s web, sans (to an extent) the impending doom. The web is Morton’s mesh of interconnection, the bug is the existing living or non-living entity, and its situation is ecoentanglement. What happens elsewhere on the web will be felt by the bug through vibrations in the silk threads. The closer the action or change, the more the bug will be affected.
     This is the same for changes in the wider world. Although here we cannot see the web which joins us, we are still ecoentangled, and will feel the effects of nearby and sometimes far-away changes. 

Back to the Wood Wide Web

Ecoentanglement has a physical manifestation in trees, which is the Wood Wide Web. It is estimated that some 90% of trees are connected through mycorrhizal fungi, which grow through the earth at their feet and connect them to their neighbours. Each tree in a forest can theoretically be connected to every other by their mycorrhizal network, like neurons in a brain joined by synapses. Unlike the ecoentanglement of other living and non-living objects, the ecoentanglement of trees is physical. 


Works Cited
Morton, Timothy. “Poisoned Ground.” Symplokē, vol. 21, no. 1-2, 2013, pp. 37–50.

Further Reading

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  1. Chicken bones (fossils) may provide the evidence needed to prove the Earth has transitioned into a new ecological epoch, the Anthropocene.



     
  2. I particularly find it interesting that one could classify quantum entanglement as a form of ecoentanglement. The idea that two particles are entangled, and influencing one results in an effect on the second is fascinating to me because it reminds of a Korean cultural understanding that everybody is born with a person they're fated to meet in their life, and what connects the two is a red thread tied around their pinkies. I think in particular ecoentanglement is interesting to explore through the lense of not only 2 participants but 3 or more, too. And this in turn ties in with the emerging idea of distributed networks or decentralisation that is happening in the finance, tech, and startup worlds. I find it ceaselessly fascinating how the same concept emerges with different names in different areas, and as a result I think it would be important to add a distributed ledger/network i.e. a blockchain as another form of ecoentanglement.
  3. I particularly find it interesting that one could classify quantum entanglement as a form of ecoentanglement. The idea that two particles are entangled, and influencing one results in an effect on the second is fascinating to me because it reminds of a Korean cultural understanding that everybody is born with a person they're fated to meet in their life, and what connects the two is a red thread tied around their pinkies. I think in particular ecoentanglement is interesting to explore through the lense of not only 2 participants but 3 or more, too. And this in turn ties in with the emerging idea of distributed networks or decentralisation that is happening in the finance, tech, and startup worlds. I find it ceaselessly fascinating how the same concept emerges with different names in different areas, and as a result I think it would be important to add a distributed ledger/network i.e. a blockchain as another form of ecoentanglement.
  4. I particularly find it interesting that one could classify quantum entanglement as a form of ecoentanglement. The idea that two particles are entangled, and influencing one results in an effect on the second is fascinating to me because it reminds of a Korean cultural understanding that everybody is born with a person they're fated to meet in their life, and what connects the two is a red thread tied around their pinkies. I think in particular ecoentanglement is interesting to explore through the lense of not only 2 participants but 3 or more, too. And this in turn ties in with the emerging idea of distributed networks or decentralisation that is happening in the finance, tech, and startup worlds. I find it ceaselessly fascinating how the same concept emerges with different names in different areas, and as a result I think it would be important to add a distributed ledger/network i.e. a blockchain as another form of ecoentanglement.

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