In human ecologies, people are interconnected with each other and their environment at
all times just as organisms in eco-systems. It is a very rare to find a neutral relationship
with others; individuals set a series of relations and this reveals the process of how they
adapt. They improve both themselves and the environment they are a part of. According
to Howkins (2010: 59), relationship spectrums can vary from conscious to unconscious
or from friendly to unfriendly, but they all are attributable to one of four kinds: imitation,
communities, collaboration and competition.
1. Imitation: Howkins (2010: 59) describes imitation as one of the easiest and quickest
forms of adaptation. Imitation is more like copying: as Howkins (2010: 59) notices,
people imitate how to do or not to do something, copying their family members (e.g.
children from parents), colleagues, rivals and indeed anyone with a high status in their
peer group.
2. Communities: we are more likely to imitate if we feel we belong to the same community
as the person we are copying (Howkins 2010: 61). It means that our belonging
to some communities is a presumption of adaptation. Individual benefits from being in a
community – it is a result of mutualism or symbiosis (which are also relevant to nature
eco-systems). As Howkins (2010: 61) claims, “large populations can satisfy more of an
individual’s needs on a more regular basis”.