Abstract

The most compelling reason to take a deep biological perspective on personal security is that biology represents an enormous and unparalleled sample of successful solutions to complex security challenges. The sciences of evolutionary biology and ecology encompass the products, processes, and emergent outcomes of 3.5 billion years of evolution, millions of species, and countless individuals all living to maintain personal security in a risk filled and unpredictable world. When you multiply these enormous numbers by cells and proteins within all the aforementioned bodies—all of them also maintaining their own personal security—not only does it appear impossible to ignore the utility of looking to nature for wisdom on personal security, but it becomes astonishing that so few examinations of the topic have taken a wholly biological perspective.