Hikikomuri, Kingdom Animalia, and Societal Entropy
Systems of control, individuality and freedom
This is a look at a population that lives at the peripheral edge, where they escape a system that is designed to give the illusion of autonomy and mask the enslavement of corporatism and consumption in an increasingly uncivil society with entropy nipping at its heels.
STORY
For the uninitiated, Hikikomori is the Japanese word ascribed to those who withdraw from society and remain isolated–only existing a confined space with the bare necessities for biological needs and to retrieve sustenance left outside their door. For all intents and purposes, they never leave their space—be it a small apartment, a single bedroom in a home, or even a closet—while the people in the world around them participate in the daily grind: the system.
The system comes in many forms and exists as a fundamental principle in our known universe since the first prokaryotic (single cell) organism broke the system and became eukaryotic (multi-cellular). Their existence and purpose can be viewed as evolution, whereas others may see it as entropy—a single cell that defied its system and split to become the basis of every living animal that we share the planet with.
Wild animals, free from rules and authority, also conform to the unspoken, yet socially defined systems they inhabit. The dichotomy of leader and follower contains the implicit imbalance seen from flocks in the sky, herds on land, and schools in the ocean. One individual issue a command and the rest follow. This cycle never ends. Yet within each silo, another battle emerges—succession. The next in line await the fall of the leader to lead and shape their society how they see fit.
From Lions, Vultures, and Killer Whales, there are those that will be at the top of the pyramid because they understand, with an innate sense, that command comes with control for those who seize it, and those that cede it—do so with the expectancy that right will be done–however subjective that may be. One constant is that the followers remain with the confines of the structure to maintain the status quo to keep the system operational.
Entropy dictates that all things must fall. Even the sub-atomic, microscopic and intangible structures and ideas. From a single cell breaking its system to multi-celled organisms that broke their systems and now occupy space in land, air, and sea—the breaking of systems leads to the emergence or existence of something.
Fast forward to modernity, we have cataloged an unfathomable amount of systems across the globe. And we have created systems that—for the most part—strive for a betterment of the society it has cultivated and preserved. That is until it evolves or decays into another entity. In our case it would be Hikikomori.
The concept is nothing new. Many notable historical individuals have left their society to become ascetics, nomads, and even isolationists. This modern incarnation isn’t some quest for eternal truths, or enlightenment, or spirituality. This version is about autonomy and control—the freedom to exist as-is.Those early abandoners weren’t leaving en masse, they were just individuals—their absence was insignificant to the system of the general population, though some were mythologized as enlightened, disciplined, or devoid of material desires.
The modern incarnation, in today’s digital world, has growth and scale on a trajectory to collapse the man-made system of society. It isn’t the general population that is sounding the alarm—they’re too busy surviving and enduring as dutiful cogs within the system. The ones who are voicing their concerns are those that are vested in having the systems that benefit them and not succumb to societal entropy—the social decay, slowly crumbling the base of the structure beneath them.
This system needs to be seen from a distance to realize the scope of interconnectedness. It is the trifecta of owner, producer, and consumer. The economic structure doesn’t matter and nor does the political environment. A bird’s eye view will reveal a sharp tip at the top of a pyramid where only a limited number of owners reside. It is the owners that need consumption of what they produce so they may keep their position and power. Ownership comes in many forms; it’s not only tangible products but also the intangible—those that control thought and emotion through algorithms—something the human mind struggles to overcome.
Numerous reports, research, and analysis attribute this to systemic socio-political issues citing digital communication and interaction leading to lower birth rates and more people opting out of relationships—seeking comfort in themselves and their autonomy outside the system. Exacerbating the situation is the digital echo chambers, that on a micro-level, impact the macro level of levers that those in power command.
Who are these isolated and/or lonely people, who are leading this revolution of max exodus, and where are their members meeting to conspire for more to join their ranks?
The truth is, there is no leader of the so-called lonely at the bottom of the pyramid. There is no secret underground cabal where all those who have exited society gather amongst themselves via digital avatars or through webcam filters. There isn’t even a type. It could easily be you.
These are people, who individually, came to a realization that the system was not for them. The only currency they deal with are time and self—their value too much for those that control the system. The system doesn’t understand individuality because everyone is catalogued and labeled. The individual disappears and is merged into one-of-many, in a broad category assigned by algorithms that calculate the infinitesimal traits and behavioral signals.
Entropy has caught up with the present and it is taking societies and collapsing their collective humanity and shared goals to isolate the followers who have opted out. It is an interesting circle of life, from a single prokaryotic cell that entropied to multi-celled organisms, to a collective that is now leaving the planet they called home.
The entropic effect is already moving, unabated. Mortality rates in major countries are increasing by an unsustainable ratio and the births that would replenish the workforce and take their spot in commerce are not arriving in large enough swaths to save humanity from extinction. The people who would be making those babies have opted out—some citing economic, social, political or fertility issues.
But the key driver may not be entropy. It may be the nature of the individual and their need to control their destiny—to feel like there is something they own that cannot be leveraged or taken away. We may witness the purest sense of freedom just as the ascetics practiced in their time. The difference is, the ascetics left with nothing but the clothes on their back. The Hikikomori and their western counterparts are instead hoarding the bare necessities and mild conveniences. The Buddha of today may not seek a quest for enlightenment, but rather a quest for control, food delivery services, air conditioning and solid internet.
The entropic timebomb here is that very few isolated consumers are contributors. They sustain themselves with the contributions from their elders—who themselves are aging out of society as time ticks. Reports of 80 year old parents supporting their 50 year old loner offspring are culturally disturbing, especially when the younger person remains confined to their bedroom of their own choice.
There is a race to see whether an emergent system can rise from the broken one that is cannibalizing itself as the individualists spend days to decades away from the machinery. The machinery that says: Work to produce, work to consume, work to have a relationship one cannot afford or spare time to cultivate, create offspring that will replace them in the system that has—through civilizations—continued to churn humans as fuel for a purpose no one understands.
This is the danger of thought. If ants thought about why they are serving a specific role for a single leading ant, there would be mutiny. Same with a colony of bees, a pride of lions, and the list goes on. Animals do think, but not of their purpose. They think of the immediate moment whereas few plan, such as squirrels and bears, others’ thoughts exist one second at a time. Humans, however, think beyond the moment, minute, hour, and years. To think is to be cursed with something we haven’t evolved enough to understand.
The isolationists have discovered living in the moment where they are in control of their autonomy. With autonomy comes the freedom to take as many bio-breaks as needed, when needed, rather than the limited scheduled ones afforded by the system. There is no participation in consumerism that perpetuates an artificial want or desire of anything that is not critical to living. Each individual’s values are subjective, but they are no longer subjected to the collective wants and needs of a merciless system that wants them to spend to consume, and work to spend for that consumption.
The flaw here is that there needs to be producers to create what the consumers need, whether they are isolated or participating in the machine—someone or something needs to create. Creation may become altruistic. Those that have found peace with their isolation may desire to create for their own consumption or even for the others to consume. Individuals serving a collective they will never physically engage with—ever. Creation also includes offspring. The gap between births and deaths has increased in disparity across consecutive years that any new entrants may find themselves in a world that is plentiful in resources, but scant in the knowledge and capabilities to produce anything significant enough to sustain them.
As Darwin observed within the Kingdom Animalia, species defy systems through genetic mutations and evolution—they arrive and branch off to something else, while the originating species goes extinct. Entropy comes for all and contains the constant of universal truth to anyone paying attention: That which is, will be no more. The system that defies the current structure—in whatever form you would like to imagine—is subject to that universal truth—a truth that lives at the peripheral edge.
Thanks for reading.
🎧 Companion Audio: Themes & Hidden Threads
This story is fully human‑written. The audio below is an optional AI‑generated commentary created after the story — a kind of literary companion that highlights themes, symbolism, and patterns readers might enjoy exploring.
Author’s Note
The algorithm is sending me some mess of content. One of which was the loneliness endemic. When I went into the rabbit hole, I noticed that nearly everyone focused on the withdrawal from society and ascribed it to some variation of being a failure that self-exile themselves away from the greater whole.
What really surprised me was how the AI podcasters included content from my sources to broaden and detail my own writing. They even reveal an angle I never considered: The decentralization of society—-which you realize the goal of the Tech-Bros—-defies their goal of a network of global societies. What is playing out in real-time is literal Ying/Yang, which made me think, “What happens where you starve the system.” I think the answer will be result of what the billionaires are most of afraid of.
The Story Behind the Story
I viewed a podcast episode of Diary of a CEO where a multi-billionaire nearing 90, opined about the current ails of society and how that affects the investment advice that his firm provides to clients. It nearly clocked two hours long and was certainly worth 90 of those minutes.