The Gaia theory and th role of human beings

[whap2005]

As we all know, life is based on cooperating events. At its very basic level living organisms consist of cooperating molecules, higher life forms consists of cooperating cells, ecosystems consist of a complex cooperating web of higher life forms, etc.. This leads to the Gaia theory where the planet Earth itself, and all its collective life can be considered a living organism.

 

Life on Earth at all levels has become great a adapting to changing events on our planet, and actually plays a vital role in keeping the planet habitable. The mechanisms life uses to protect itself from threats and changing events is evolution (developing defense mechanisms and new tactics to excel). Since the beginning of life on Earth, there is one thing life hasn't been able to adapt to or protect itself against. That is threats from space such as asteroids, comets, and other non-terrestrial events. Could human beings be evolutions solution to this threat? We are the only organism in the history of life that actually has the ability to detect and protect the Earth from these types of events. In addition to our role of helping to protect life on earth, we may also play a role in its reproduction in the form of colonizing another habitable planet or terriforming one to make it habitable. One of the requirements of life is that life must be able to reproduce or replicate itself. I believe this is necessary in order for the Gaia theory to hold true within our understanding of life. What are everyone’s thoughts on this?

 

 

[In My Memory]

Whap,

 

As we all know, life is based on cooperating events. At its very basic level living organisms consist of cooperating molecules, higher life forms consists of cooperating cells, ecosystems consist of a complex cooperating web of higher life forms, etc.. This leads to the Gaia theory where the planet Earth itself, and all its collective life can be considered a living organism.

If this is what Gaia theory is based on, then its adherents overlook a really elementary error. Enter the fallacy police:

 

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/composition.html

 

http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html#composition

 

http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blfaq_fall_composition.htm

[Skye]

Well it would be fallacious to conclude that because life co-operates at some levels it co-operates at all levels, but it's not fallacious to hypothesise in that way. I don't think there's much to say it's right though.

[zyncod]

Well, it would be a pretty crappy way to protect the planet from an extinction event like a meteor since most scientists agree that humans are responsible for the sixth major extinction event (the Holocene). It's not as big as the others yet, but give us time.

[AL]

What use is the Gaia theory, really? It doesn't explain anything, nor does it predict anything. It's just renaming "biosphere" to "Gaia."

[Skye]

It sells pop sci books.

[CanadaAotS]

Well when you think about it... if all of life is affected by something huge (aka asteroid) and say half of all life is killed, this happens a few times, somethings gotta pop up evolutionary wise, to try and adapt...

 

probably assuming alot of things, but makes sense to me

[AI_Interface]

Well when you think about it... if all of life is affected by something huge (aka asteroid) and say half of all life is killed' date=' this happens a few times, somethings gotta pop up evolutionary wise, to try and adapt...

 

probably assuming alot of things, but makes sense to me[/quote']

 

You have to remember that evolution is blind. A mutation doesn't occur for the purpose of creating a species capable of defending Earth from an asteroid impact. Mutations occur randomly.

 

To say that "somethings gotta pop up evolutionary wise" is to say that there is some sort of guiding force behind evolution which there isn't.

 

And also I don't see how a species could adapt to an asteroid impact considering it doesn't apply a constant selection pressure.

 

Species that were better suited to the changing climate after an impact would have an advantage but that is all I can think of.

[bascule]

Well it would be fallacious to conclude that because life co-operates at some levels it co-operates at all levels, but it's not fallacious to hypothesise in that way. I don't think there's much to say it's right though.

 

I think the point is that there are a high number of teleconnections which can shape apects of the evolutionary process and that individual natural selection events occuring in innumerable places worldwide were tending towards a sort of planetwide homeostasis. That's the best definition of the Gaia hypothesis that I can muster.

 

Evidence of this? Ways to test it? I don't know of any offhand, and whatever sort of global homeostasis the system may or may not have been seeking seems to get disturbed pretty often (on a planetary timeline) by disasterous events like supervolcano eruptions...

 

I definitely see this sort of thing in human memetic evolution. Doom and gloom scenarios are memes which seem to have no trouble spreading whatsoever. Humans are, like all animals, fundamentally anticipator/avoiders, and whenever some klaxonesque doomsayer screams end of the world and has some merit to his argument, people will generally take interest, and as more merit is discovered it garners more interest, and so the system will generally trend in directions designed to prevent the annihilation of the human species.

[JonM]

perhaps the entire universe is alive, just maybe in a different way...

[Skye]

Evidence of this? Ways to test it? I don't know of any offhand, and whatever sort of global homeostasis the system may or may not have been seeking seems to get disturbed pretty often (on a planetary timeline) by disasterous events like supervolcano eruptions...

Well that's the part where I think it falls down. There are connections at a global scale, but I don't see them working as a system to prevent damage.

perhaps the entire universe is alive, just maybe in a different way...

...and it eats socks and Bic pens?