ERA PARAZITOV

Ljudje smo pogosto prepričani, da smo se močno oddaljili od drugih organizmov in dosegli izjemno stopnjo razvoja. A če pomislimo, da se le približno 1% naših genov razlikuje od genov vinske mušice drozofile (Drosophilidae), lahko upravičeno sklepamo, da se ljudje obnašamo na zelo podobne načine kot vsa ostala živa bitja. Tudi mi gojimo recipročni altruizem, goljufamo, pa tudi zajedamo oziroma parazitiramo.

V zgodovini političnega mišljenja se metafora parazita pojavlja znova in znova, kot bi se misleci intuitivno zavedali, da je parazitizem ena temeljnih sil družbenega življenja. Marx je kapital opisoval kot »mrtvo delo, ki se prisesa na živo delo in ga izčrpava«, kot organizem brez lastne vitalnosti, ki lahko preživi le tako, da se hrani z energijo drugih. Lenin je govoril o »parazitskem kapitalizmu«, ki se razrašča na račun družbe kot tumor, ki raste iz telesa, a mu hkrati jemlje moč.

Zanimanje za parazite v kulturi in znanosti danes spet narašča. Japonska pisateljica Hideaki Sena je leta 1995 napisala znanstvenofantastično novelo Parasite Eve, po kateri nastajajo film, videoigre in manga. Bong Joon-hojev film Parazit je postal globalna metafora družbenega zajedanja. Ameriški ekonomist Michael Hudson pa opozarja na ekonomski parazitizem, kjer finančne elite izčrpavajo realno gospodarstvo, ne da bi mu karkoli vračale. Da parazitizem ni več le ekonomska ali politična metafora, temveč postaja tehnološka realnost, je pokazal Jaron Lanier. Digitalne platforme, pravi, ne samo opazujejo ljudi, temveč jih preoblikujejo. Algoritmi se prisesajo na človeško pozornost, jo preusmerjajo, preoblikujejo in hranijo sami sebe. Tako kot biološki paraziti spreminjajo vedenje svojih gostiteljev, tudi digitalni sistemi spreminjajo vedenje uporabnikov — tiho, neopazno, a vztrajno. In morda je prav v tem najbolj srhljiva resnica: da so paraziti, o katerih so govorili revolucionarni misleci, danes dobili svojo najbolj izpopolnjeno, algoritmično obliko.

Preučevanje parazitov in njihove sposobnosti, da spreminjajo vedenje gostiteljev in vmesnih gostiteljev, odpira povsem novo področje v nevroznanosti. Čuden, mračen, srhljiv in hkrati fascinanten svet parazitov ima lahko večji vpliv na nas, kot si predstavljamo, razlaga nevroznanstvenik prof. Robert Sapolsky. Paraziti vstopajo v naše organizme in jih izkoriščajo. Njihovo osupljivo vedenje je usmerjeno v dokončanje lastnega življenjskega cikla, povečanje števila potomcev, izogibanje imunskemu sistemu gostitelja in zagotavljanje prenosa na nove gostitelje. V ta namen so razvili širok nabor izjemno učinkovitih vedenjskih strategij in so zato ena najuspešnejših skupin živih bitij na Zemlji. Zaradi premajhne raziskanosti ter zavajajočih strategij in taktik, ki jih uporabljajo, jih težko prepoznamo in pogosto ne razumemo, kako v resnici vplivajo na nas.

Večinoma si predstavljamo, da so paraziti prostemu očesu nevidna bitja, ki naseljujejo organizme živih bitij. Sama pa sem prepričana, da parazitske tvorbe obstajajo in se razvijajo tudi v tkivu sodobne družbe — pogosto do neslutenih razsežnosti. Vse to odpira vprašanje: ali so paraziti res le biološki pojav — ali pa so tudi del sodobne družbe?

 

Skozi nedavne ugotovitve skupine znanstvenikov z univerze v Leedsu, ki so razvozlali, kako lahko tako majhen enocelični parazit, kot je Toxoplasma gondii, spreminja vedenje svojega gostitelja, ter skozi razlage filozofa in pionirja računalniške znanosti Jarona Lanierja lahko uvidimo, da lastniki družbenih omrežij uporabljajo enake strategije za spreminjanje vedenja svojih uporabnikov, kot jih uporablja ta protozojski parazit.

Toxoplasma gondii je enocelični parazit, ki se lahko razmnožuje samo v črevesju mačk. Da pride do tja, mora najprej okužiti vmesnega gostitelja — pogosto miši ali podgane. Ko miš zaužije parazitove ciste (npr. iz zemlje ali hrane), se parazit razširi po njenem telesu in se naseli v možganih, kjer tvori majhne ciste.

To je najbolj fascinanten del. Toxoplasma ne uniči možganov — preoblikuje jih. Najbolj vpliva na amigdalo (center za strah), sisteme za nagrajevanje in odziv na vonjave. Namesto da bi miš čutila strah pred vonjem mačjega urina, začne ta vonj nanjo delovati privlačno. To ni metafora — to je izmerjen nevrobiološki učinek. Parazit to doseže tako, da zmanjša aktivnost centrov za strah, poveča dopaminske signale in spremeni povezave med amigdalo in vohalnim sistemom. Rezultat je presenetljiv: miš izgubi prirojen strah pred mačkami, se jim približuje in doživlja celo neke vrste erotično vzburjenje.

Ker se lahko parazit razmnožuje samo v mački, je izguba strahu ključna. Ko miš izgubi previdnost, je veliko bolj verjetno, da jo mačka ujame in poje. S tem parazit doseže svoj cilj: vrne se v mačje črevo, kjer lahko dokonča svoj življenjski cikel.

Naj dodam še nekaj najbolj osupljivih primerov: gliva Ophiocordyceps prevzame nadzor nad mravljami in jih spremeni v »zombije«. Parazit Dicrocoelium dendriticum prisili mravljo, da spleza na travno bilko, da jo poje krava. Ti primeri niso le biološke zanimivosti — so metafore, ki nam pomagajo razumeti, kaj se dogaja v sodobnih družbah.

Ko enkrat razumemo, kako mojstrsko paraziti preoblikujejo vedenje svojih gostiteljev, postane skoraj neizogibno, da podobne vzorce prepoznamo tudi v strukturah sodobne družbe.

Finančni kapitalizem kot endoparazit družbe. Endoparaziti živijo znotraj telesa gostitelja in iz njega črpajo hranila. Podobno delujejo deli sodobnega finančnega sistema. Ekonomist Michael Hudson opozarja, da finančne elite ustvarjajo bogastvo brez ustvarjanja realne vrednosti, rentništvo nadomešča produktivnost, dolg postane orodje izčrpavanja, davčne oaze pa delujejo kot skrivališča parazitov. Gostitelj — realno gospodarstvo — izgublja vitalnost, medtem ko parazit raste.

Digitalni parazitizem: algoritmi kot nevroparaziti. Če lahko enocelični organizem spremeni vedenje miši, zakaj ne bi to zmogle tudi tehnološke platforme? Algoritmi družbenih omrežij izkoriščajo dopaminske odzive, spodbujajo kompulzivno uporabo, spreminjajo vedenjske vzorce, polarizirajo družbo in monetizirajo pozornost. Primer Cambridge Analytica je pokazal, da lahko digitalni sistemi vplivajo celo na politične procese. Tako kot Toxoplasma preoblikuje možgane miši, tako algoritmi preoblikujejo naše navade, izbire in prepričanja.

Ekstraktivne industrije kot ektoparaziti planeta. Ektoparaziti živijo na površini gostitelja in iz njega črpajo vire. Naftna, rudarska in gozdarska industrija delujejo na podoben način: izčrpavajo naravne vire, uničujejo ekosisteme, puščajo degradirane pokrajine in prelagajo stroške na lokalne skupnosti. Planet kot gostitelj izgublja sposobnost regeneracije.

Iz naštetih primerov lahko sklepam, da je finančni kapitalizem, kot ga danes živimo v ZDA in zahodnem svetu, v svojem bistvu parazitska entiteta, ki za svoj obstoj uporablja taktike in strategije parazitov ter s pomočjo investiranja in razvoja tehnoloških orodij za manipuliranje z ljudmi pospešeno spreminja svet v idealnega gostitelja.

Zaključek

Razumevanje parazitov nam razkriva, da je meja med biološkimi in družbenimi sistemi veliko tanjša, kot si želimo priznati. V naravi paraziti uspevajo zaradi svoje sposobnosti manipulacije, prikritega delovanja in izkoriščanja virov gostitelja — in prav te lastnosti lahko prepoznamo tudi v delovanju sodobnih družbenih struktur. Finančni kapitalizem, lastniki digitalnih platform in tehnološki giganti so razvili sofisticirane mehanizme vplivanja na vedenje posameznikov, ki uporabljajo strategije, značilne za biološke parazite.

Če lahko enocelični organizem, kot je Toxoplasma gondii, spremeni vedenje svojega gostitelja, zakaj bi dvomili, da lahko to počnejo tudi kompleksni sistemi, ki razpolagajo z neprimerljivo večjo močjo, podatki in tehnološkimi orodji? V obeh primerih gre za isto logiko: za preživetje in rast je treba oblikovati gostitelja tako, da služi interesom parazita.

Zato je ključno, da se kot družba naučimo prepoznavati parazitske vzorce, ki se skrivajo v ekonomskih modelih, digitalnih okoljih in političnih strukturah. Šele ko razumemo, kako delujejo, lahko razvijemo obrambo pred njimi — tako kot se organizem brani pred biološkimi zajedavci. Paraziti bodo vedno obstajali; vprašanje je le, ali bomo ostali pasivni gostitelji ali pa bomo razvili sposobnost, da prepoznamo in omejimo tiste, ki iz nas črpajo čas, zdravo okolje, energijo, pozornost in prihodnost.

Alenka Sottler

ANG

ERA OF PARASITES

 

Humans often believe we have risen far above other organisms and achieved an exceptional level of development. Yet if we consider that only about 1% of our genes differ from those of the fruit fly Drosophila, we may rightfully conclude that we behave in ways strikingly similar to all other living beings. We, too, practice reciprocal altruism, we cheat, and we parasitize.

Throughout the history of political thought, the metaphor of the parasite appears again and again, as if thinkers intuitively sensed that parasitism is one of the fundamental forces shaping social life. Marx described capital as “dead labor that attaches itself to living labor and drains it,” an organism without vitality that survives only by feeding on the energy of others. Lenin spoke of “parasitic capitalism,” expanding at the expense of society like a tumor growing from the body while simultaneously weakening it.

Interest in parasites is once again rising in culture and science. In 1995, Japanese writer Hideaki Sena published the science‑fiction novella Parasite Eve, which inspired films, video games, and manga. Bong Joon‑ho’s film Parasite became a global metaphor for social predation. American economist Michael Hudson warns of economic parasitism, in which financial elites drain the real economy without giving anything back. And Jaron Lanier has shown that parasitism is no longer merely an economic or political metaphor but is becoming a technological reality. Digital platforms, he argues, do not merely observe people — they reshape them. Algorithms latch onto human attention, redirect it, reshape it, and feed themselves. Just as biological parasites alter the behavior of their hosts, digital systems alter the behavior of their users — quietly, invisibly, relentlessly. And perhaps this is the most unsettling truth: the parasites revolutionary thinkers once described have today found their most refined, algorithmic form.

The study of parasites and their ability to alter the behavior of hosts and intermediate hosts opens an entirely new field in neuroscience. The strange, dark, eerie, and at the same time fascinating world of parasites may influence us far more than we imagine, explains neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky. Parasites enter our bodies and exploit them. Their astonishing behavior is directed toward completing their life cycle, increasing their offspring, evading the host’s immune system, and ensuring transmission to new hosts. To achieve this, they have developed a wide array of highly effective behavioral strategies and are therefore among the most successful groups of organisms on Earth. Due to their deceptive strategies and insufficient research, we often fail to recognize them and do not fully understand how they affect us.

We usually imagine parasites as invisible creatures inhabiting the bodies of living beings. Yet I am convinced that parasitic formations also exist — and evolve — within the tissue of modern society, often to unimaginable proportions. This raises a crucial question: are parasites truly only a biological phenomenon, or are they also embedded in the structures of contemporary society?

Recent findings from a research group at the University of Leeds, who uncovered how a tiny single‑celled parasite like Toxoplasma gondii can manipulate the behavior of its host, together with the insights of philosopher and computer‑science pioneer Jaron Lanier, reveal that the owners of social‑media platforms use strategies strikingly similar to those of this protozoan parasite.

Toxoplasma gondii can reproduce only in the intestines of cats. To get there, it must first infect an intermediate host — often a mouse or rat. Once the mouse ingests the parasite’s cysts, Toxoplasma spreads through its body and settles in the brain, forming tiny cysts.

This is the most fascinating part. Toxoplasma does not destroy the brain — it rewires it. It affects the amygdala (the fear center), reward systems, and olfactory responses. Instead of feeling fear when smelling cat urine, the mouse becomes attracted to it. This is not a metaphor — it is a measured neurobiological effect. The parasite achieves this by reducing fear‑center activity, increasing dopamine signaling, and altering connections between the amygdala and the olfactory system. The result is astonishing: the mouse loses its innate fear of cats, approaches them, and even experiences a form of sexual arousal.

Because the parasite can reproduce only in cats, this behavioral shift is essential. A fearless mouse is far more likely to be caught and eaten. Thus the parasite reaches its goal: it returns to the cat’s intestine, where it can complete its life cycle.

Other examples are equally striking: the fungus Ophiocordyceps takes control of ants and turns them into “zombies.” The parasite Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces an ant to climb a blade of grass so that a cow will eat it. These are not merely biological curiosities — they are metaphors that help us understand what is happening in modern societies.

Consider a few examples of social parasitism:

Financial capitalism as an endoparasite of society.
Endoparasites live inside the host’s body and draw nutrients from it. Parts of the modern financial system operate in much the same way. Economist Michael Hudson warns that financial elites generate wealth without creating real value; rent-seeking replaces productivity, debt becomes a tool of extraction, and tax havens function as hiding places for parasites.The parasitic FIRE sector consists of finance, insurance, and real estate. Its host is the economy. The banking sector is essentially parasitic because it produces no value of its own, yet raises the cost of buying a house or apartment. It siphons money from people’s incomes and from public budgets. Citizens must pay banks ever‑increasing amounts simply to service interest payments. The host — the real economy — loses vitality while the parasite grows.

Digital parasitism: algorithms as neuroparasites. If a single‑celled organism can alter the behavior of a mouse, why wouldn’t technological platforms be capable of similar manipulation? Social‑media algorithms exploit dopamine responses, encourage compulsive use, reshape behavioral patterns, polarize society, and monetize attention. The Cambridge Analytica scandal showed that digital systems can influence political processes. Just as Toxoplasma rewires the mouse brain, algorithms reshape our habits, choices, and beliefs.

Extractive industries as ektoparasites of the planet. Ectoparasites live on the surface of the host and drain its resources. Oil, mining, and logging industries operate similarly: they deplete natural resources, destroy ecosystems, leave degraded landscapes, and shift the costs onto local communities. The planet as host is losing its ability to regenerate.

From these examples, we may conclude that financial capitalism, as it exists today in the United States and the Western world, is in its essence a parasitic entity — one that uses the tactics and strategies of biological parasites and, through investment and technological tools of behavioral manipulation, is rapidly transforming the world into an ideal host.

 

Conclusion

Understanding parasites reveals that the boundary between biological and social systems is far thinner than we like to believe. In nature, parasites thrive through manipulation, concealment, and the extraction of the host’s resources — and these same traits can be recognized in the functioning of modern social structures. Financial capitalism, digital platforms, and technological giants have developed sophisticated mechanisms for influencing human behavior that mirror the strategies of biological parasites.

If a single‑celled organism like Toxoplasma gondii can alter the behavior of its host, why would we doubt that complex systems with vastly greater power, data, and technological tools can do the same? In both cases, the logic is identical: to survive and grow, the parasite must shape the host to serve its interests.

It is therefore essential that we learn to recognize parasitic patterns hidden in economic models, digital environments, and political structures. Only by understanding how they operate can we develop defenses — just as an organism defends itself against biological parasites. Parasites will always exist; the question is whether we remain passive hosts or develop the ability to identify and limit those who drain our time, our environment, our energy, our attention, and our future.

 

Alenka Sottler

6. 2. 2026

 

DRŽAVLJANSKI PROSTI ČAS – ČRPALIŠČE ORJAŠKIH PROFITOV

Če želimo razumeti, kako se upreti obstoječemu sistemu, moramo najprej doumeti njegov logiko.

Kot opozarja Yanis Varufakis: Facebook je vreden milijarde zato, ker zanj ljudje brezplačno delajo. Vsaka objava povečuje kapital lastnika– vi ustvarjate vrednost, on pobira dobiček.

To orjaško kopičenje kapitala je mogoče zato, ker v času vsesplošne financializacije obstaja  področje, kjer delo državljanov ostaja neplačano: državljanski prosti čas. Tam poteka tih, a sistematičen lov na neplačano delo. Del tega dela je prostovoljnega, del pa postane obveznost – zapovedana z aplikacijami, pravili, postopki in zakoni.

Številna podjetja ter državni uradi so to črpališče že vgradili v svoje poslovne modele. Kjer koli je mogoče, zamenjujejo plačljiv delovni čas z državljanskim prostim časom. A nihče tega ne počne tako učinkovito in brezsramno kot tehnološki velikani. Njihov poslovni model je genialno preprost: delovni čas so nadomestili s prostim časom, ki ga ni treba plačati.

Toda ta vir ni brez dna. Prostega časa državljanov je vse manj. Ostaja ga komaj še toliko, da lahko ljudje poskrbijo za osnovne potrebe, medtem ko se znajdejo v vse večji časovni stiski. Sprašujejo se, kam je izginil njihov prosti čas – odgovor pa je jasen: preoblikovan je bil v kapital drugih.

Prepričana sem, da obstaja neposredna povezava med demokracijo in državljanskim prostim časom. Ko se prosti čas izčrpava, se izčrpava tudi demokracija. Ljudje z vedno manj časa vse manj sodelujejo pri upravljanju skupnosti in države. S tem postajajo ranljivejši za izkoriščanje.

Zato menim, da bi morali v okviru obstoječega sistema državljanski prost čas finančno ovrednotiti. Le tako bi lahko zaščitili državljane pred časovno stisko in ponovno odprli prostor za demokratične procese. Kajti izkoriščanje in slabitev demokracije se bosta nadaljevala, dokler bo prosti čas državljanov brez vrednosti.

 

Alenka Sottler

ANG

CITIZENS’ FREE TIME – A WELLSPRING OF COLOSSAL PROFITS

If we want to resist the system we live in, we first have to understand how it works.

As Yanis Varoufakis points out, Facebook is worth billions because people work for it for free. Every post you upload to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and the rest adds to their cloud‑based capital. You create the value; they pocket the profit.

This enormous accumulation of capital is possible because, in an age when everything and everyone is financialized, one domain remains unprotected and unpaid: citizens’ free time. It has become an open hunting ground for extracting unpaid labor. Sometimes this labor is voluntary; other times it’s mandatory, enforced by rules, procedures, and laws.

Many companies — and even government offices and institutions — have already built this free reservoir into their business models or are rushing to update them in that direction. Wherever possible, they replace paid working hours with citizens’ free time. But no one exploits it as efficiently and shamelessly as the big tech oligarchs. Their business model outperforms all others for one simple reason: they have replaced paid labor time with unpaid leisure time.

But this temporal resource is not a bottomless well. Citizens have less and less free time.
What remains barely covers their most basic needs, leaving them in a growing state of time scarcity. People wonder where their free time has gone — yet the answer is clear: it has been siphoned off and converted into someone else’s capital.

I am convinced that there is a direct causal link between democracy and citizens’ free time. The consequences of unrestrained exploitation of that time are devastating for the functioning of the state and for democracy itself. As citizens lose time, they lose the ability to participate in decisions about how society and the state are governed. This makes them increasingly vulnerable to exploitation.

That is why I believe that within the current system, citizens’ time must be financially valued. Only then can we protect people from time scarcity and restore the temporal space necessary for democratic processes. Because this exploitation — and the erosion of democracy that comes with it — will continue as long as citizens’ free time remains free for others to take.

Alenka Sottler