The two spheres in which we live are governed by very different laws. One of the basic laws of the ecosphere can be summed up as "Everything is connected to everything else." This expresses the fact that the ecosphere is an elaborate network, in which each component part is linked to many others. Thus, in an aquatic ecosystem a fish is not only a fish, the p of other fish. It is also the producer of organic waste that nourishes microorganisms and ultimately aquatic plants; the consumer of oxygen produced photosynthetically by the plants; the habitat of parasites; the fish hawk's prey. The fish is not only, existentially, a fish, but also an element of this network, which defines its functions. Indeed, in the evolutionary sense, good part of the network-the microorgan and plants, for example preceded the fish, which could establish itself only because it fitted properly into the preexisting system.
我们所居住的两个世界分别受控于不同的规律。生态圈最基本的规律可概括为“万物皆相互联系”。这说明生态圈是一个精密的网络，其间的每个成员都与其他成员相联系。因此，在海洋生态系统中，鱼不仅是鱼，也不仅是其他鱼的生育者；它还充当有机废料的生产者，而这些有机废料滋养着微生物甚至水生植物；它又是由植物光合作用生成的氧气的消耗者；它也是寄生虫的栖息地和鱼鹰的对象。鱼并不仅仅是孤立的鱼，它也是网络上的一个要素并限制网络的功能。的确，从进化论的角度上看，网络中的很多成员，比如微生物和植物，都先于鱼而存在。但正因为鱼能适应这一业已存在的系统，它才得以立足。
In the technosphere, the component parts—the thousands of different man-made objects—have a very different relation to their surroundings. A car, for example, imposes itself on the neighborhood rather than being defined by it; the same car is sold for use on the densely packed Los Angeles freeways or in a quiet country village. It is produced solely as a salable object—a commodity—with-little regard for how well it fits into either sphere: the system of transportation or the environment. It is true, of course, that all cars must have width that is accommoda by the traffic lanes, and must have proper brakes, lights, and horn, and so on. But as every resident of Los Angeles or New York knows, in recent years their crowded streets and highways have been afflicted with longer and longer limousines, designed to please the buyer and profit the producer, but hardly suitable to their habitat.
在技术圈中，成员们即众多形形色色的人造物体之间相对于它们的环境来说关系也不一样。例如，汽车立于社区却不受其限制；同型的汽车可以奔驰在熙熙攘攘的洛杉矶高速公路上，也可以行驶在安静的乡村小路上。汽车被生产出来就是为了出售，就是一种商品，无须考虑它是否适合于两种状态下的任何一种：交通系统或环境。当然，所有汽车都需要一定宽度的交通通道，并要有合适的闸、灯、喇叭等。但正如洛杉矶或纽约的每个居民所知道的那样，近年来，拥挤的街道和高速公路全都充塞着长龙般的小轿车。而这些小轿车的设计只求迎合买者并使生产商获利却很少考虑与居住环境相宜。
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