Declarations of sovereignty and independence are not uncommon as rites of passage both for countries and teenagers. But what we typically see and what we experience is altogether different, both at home and in the world. Dependency and interdependency are the norm, whether we look at human relations, commerce, or biology. As the conservationist John Muir put it, everything is "hitched to everything else in the universe." And perhaps this is as it must and should be. We dabble with danger when we act as if we are self-reliant and can "go it alone", when in fact we are not …