Animals, plants, the weather, and pretty much everything else observable in nature that I can think of, don’t appear to operate based on this concept of planning for the future, either, at least not consciously. They have what’s written in their genes for them to do, and they have the circumstances in front of them, the ability to react to the present moment, the ability to fulfill their role in the web of relationships in which they exist. They have no future projects. At most, they have different instincts according to the season of the year, or the season of their lifespan. Elsewhere, I’ve called this cyclical time, as opposed to linear time. Planets and moons, and the Earth itself, always come back around—not because of plans, but because of gravity. Because some law of nature inherent in the relationship between their body and other bodies in space keeps them in orbit, always moving yet always nearby. Whole ecosystems, biospheres, galaxies emerge without anybody doing any planning, with only our starting states, the ways we collide with each other, and a generous helping of chance and randomness.