Some of the greatest and most calamitous mistakes, both in personal lives and in society, stem from taking tropes (figurative language) literally. In the previous chapter, we considered the transportation system. Indeed, society could well be viewed as a set of interrelated systems (financial, educational, healthcare and many others). Our need to simplify our cognitive life (so as not to be overwhelmed by information and sensory stimuli) soon brings about the temptation to conceptualise society as an organism, say the human body, with its various interrelated systems (nervous, circulatory, skeletomuscular, lymphatic, endocrine, digestive, reproductive, etc.).