It is called symbiosis, where both sides profit.
That’s stupid, why share the profits when I can take it all for myself?
Holy shit new parasite just dropped
Well if you leech too many resources one of two things will happen:
- The host will remove you and kill you
- The host dies and you along with it
A parasite becoming too greedy will seal its own fate.
You forget the 3rd option, I hire some worms to eat the roots of anyone that tries to stop me and I move onto the next tree.
Shhh ur gonna make the Lysenkoists mad
What annoys me about this meme is that it is the same relationship that underpins all business relationships. I understand you are not happy with the state of things but showing a drawing of “capitalism” at work in nature isn’t really making the point you think you are making.
This might as well be a pic of two guys in suits trading on a stock exchange floor with the same caption. Or add this to a caption to a pic of a lion eating a baby gazelle while its mother watches from the tree line. What point are we even trying to make here??
Otherwise known as a global economy / no-tariff trading.
Maybe mushrooms are still in the “build userbase” phase. Soon they will begin with the enshittification, raise the prices, put normal quality of life functions behind a paywall and add ads.
Tbf to the mushrooms, enshitification does sound like it would be good for them, botanically speaking.
I should not have laughed as hard as I did at this🤣
IIRC, this actually happens. When the balance is disturbed, the mushrooms go wild and destroy young sapplings. Could be I recall incorrectly and it’s actually other species. I cannot recommend The Mother Tree enough, it goes into great detail of the history of research into this
Great book Made me consider how we give for granted that research is impartial while actually it is not
Owner Class: “LOL screw that! Hey, Mushroom!”
Mushroom: “Yeah? What’s up?”
Owner Class: “Watch out! That White Tree is trying to steal your nutrients.”
Mushroom: “…”
Mushroom: (•ˋ _ ˊ•)
White Tree: “Whoa hang on there, fun guy. I’m not trying to steal your nutrients. I worked hard for these, I deserve my share.”
Mushroom: “Let’s fight, bitch!”
White Tree: “Them’s fighting words! You’re on!”
Scuffle Intensifies
Emperor Palpatine Owner Class: “Good. Good! Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” Sticks a straw in the nutrients and starts sucking all of it.
Owner Class: “Hey everybody. We’ve had an excellent season this year, so we wanted to pay our success forward. Hold out your hands, we’re gonna share our harvest!”
Mushroom and White Trees hold out their “hands”.
Owner Class trickles a pittance of nutrients on Mushroom only.
White Trees: “… Wait, what?! How come Mushroom got this?”
Mushroom: “Yeah that’s weird. Let’s go ask Owner Class what happened!”
Owner Class: “WTF? That’s so weird! Hey, Mushroom! What happened here? Why did you get some nutrients and White Trees didn’t get any?!”
Mushroom: “Hey, I deserve this! I worked so hard this season, I have to eat, too!”
White Trees: “Give us some!”
Mushroom: “Make me!”
Scuffle Intensifies
Emperor Palpatine Owner Class: Laughs in Reaganomics
Sticks more straws into the nutrients and starts sucking.
Excess calories and energy used to be considered profit.
If mushrooms could store energy in a bank they would be laughing
