Spend two minutes examining the products in your pantry or grocery store that include corn (maize) products, including corn syrup. Spend another few minutes examining industrial uses (cornstarch packing material, coatings of pharmaceuticals, and so forth). Consider the number of acres of farmland corn planted in the United States; the proportion of hectares of agricultural land worldwide planted with maize; the proportion of biomass consumed by all heterotrophic animals worldwide that is maize. Compare these numbers to the same values a decade and a century ago.

Force yourself to seriously take the stance: The species Zea mays has developed a strategy for dominating and out-performing its natural competitors by directly modifying the behavior of Homo sapiens. Take into account the psychological effects of corn syrup, foods deep-fried in corn oil, and the species’ recent diversification into industrial ethanol production. Take into account the industrial, transportation, social, and medical infrastructure of human society that is devoted to or depends upon Zea mays. Consider what would happen to a 50-acre cornfield if abandoned suddenly, and compare the evolutionary fitness of the plants in the field while being tended vs. the state of abandonment. Consider the reported flavor benefits and health dangers of corn-fed vs. grass-fed beef. Think of farmland as having been scraped clean of many tens of thousands of established organisms per square meter, and re-scraped periodically, so that corn seed and only corn seed may flourish.

It may be useful to read a bit about the coevolutionary dynamics of orchids and insects, and examine the structural engineering involved in the hooked surfaces of burdock and nettle seed cases.

As quickly as possible, change your perspective to the more traditional one: That thousands of years ago, primitive human neo-agronomists discovered the wild grass teosinte and began co-opting it for their settlements. Over several hundred generations of directed breeding, the genetic makeup of the wild plant was twisted into a food crop. Since it was on hand and increasingly standardized by human manipulation, maize plant material came (through a process of technological exaptation) to be used in many diverse applications. Modern genetic agronomy, including transgenic manipulation and other intricate manipulations of the species, has led to the transformation of the original wild plant into a literal tool of Homo sapiens.

Now switch back. Repeat until the notion of “advantage” and “usefulness” begin to be undermined.

Bonus exercises: Undertake the analogous exercise with: tropical houseplants, bamboo, dogs/wolves, the chili pepper. Can the same effect be brought about for books? Light bulbs? Computers?

Computer viruses?