not this complex body constitutes a pile is more of a theological question. If the body was organized with an ultimate design in mind, it would fall out of the boundaries of pile classification. If you're a deist of any stripe, this question falls into the hands of your God(s). The case can also be argued that evolution, while an unthinking process, still plots us forth with an ultimate design in mind – that design being utmost efficient in our environments, regardless of the shape that implies. The same uncertainty paints the classification of our partners in the animal kingdom.

  One facet of the human shape that is certain, in our minds at least, is that the entirety of the species, humans that is, composes a pile. The loose connection of humanity that dots the surface area of the planet is tethered together in a pile net made of our modern communications faculties. A pile must usually maintain a tactile continuance of parts to be considered a pile, but the phenomena that contribute to a pile need not be tangible. The fact is the human race has in the past one-hundred years begun to organize itself in pile formation. We are all connected, intangibly if you like, but nevertheless connected. It could be argued that the communications revolutions of the past century have only made our connectedness more tangible, that indeed since the advent of speech we've been a species united in a mutuality not shared by other beasts. The ability to exchange thoughts freely and inclusively is the essence of the pile. For these reasons the entirety of the population of hummingbirds or potato mollusks do not constitute piles.

  Regardless, of these selfish contemplations the shape of the pile is intrinsic in the shape of nature. From the mountain to the hill, the pile surrounds us. Our history has been marked by a love/hate relationship with the pile. Only recently, within the past three-thousand years, have we begun to develop outside the elastic confines of the pile and imprison ourselves in stack-based ideologies.