Memory and Knowledge

Stores of memory and inter-generational knowledge play a major part in material relations and alter them. In a simpler case, the honey bee benefits from the accumulated knowledge of its sting. An angry bee may give you a slight tap on the head or shoulder, giving you the chance to make a run for it, and so it achieves a deterrent without having to sting and sacrifice itself, which may very well presuppose knowledge of its sting in the first place. A subtle cushion of inter-species relations is afforded after generations upon generations of work and development of defenses like the stinger.