AnswerID: 224878 Submitted: Friday, Mar 02, 2007 at 08:15
Robin
replied:
The "Gaia Hypothesis" has attracted much interest.
The concept of the earth as a self-regulating "super-organism" is especially attractive to those who see in it a justification for "green" policies.
But what exactly does it entail, and what are its true consequences?
When pressed by criticism, Gaians often fall back to what one might call the
"Weak Gaia Hypothesis": the non-controversial idea that living systems modify their
environment, and that complex ecosystems tend to be stable.
Emboldened by success with the Weak Hypothesis, proponents then proceed to the
"Strong Gaia Hypothesis", as though this followed naturally.
This proposes that the Earth is a super-organism, which in some mystical way regulates life and non-life for the benefit of the whole.
A kind of planetary communism.
Once this is accepted, grimmer extensions sprout. Mankind means nothing to Gaia, and we better behave lest she spit us out. Or even more extreme, not only does Gaia not care
about us, but in the final analysis it doesn't really matter if we and all other life on the planet are exterminated.
Gaia doesn't care about such trivial details as individual species , and in time she will rise again like a phoenix from her own ashes.
All that matters is Gaia herself.
I call this the "Gaia-With-Real-Muscles Hypothesis".
However, all the above are mere shadows of the true meaning and purpose
of Gaia, which I now unveil to the world as the "Gaia-on-Steroids Hypothesis".
The true meaning and purpose of Gaia are now revealed:
"The Grand Unified Theory of Gaia".
Consider the following:
Over millions of years, Gaia has laid up vast amounts of coal, oil and gas reserves: a kind of planetary fat. In addition, Gaia has arranged for the convenient distribution of supplies of various fissionable elements.
Despite Gaia's renowned self-regulation, atmospheric greenhouse gases
have been rising steadily ever since the start of the industrial revolution
and Gaia seems unwilling to cope with the excess we produce.
Why? - Well even planets don't live forever.
Any moment, Gaia might be sterilized by a nearby supernova or a massive meteorite impact. If not, the sun will eventually fry us.
So like all living things, Gaia must die, and Gaia must reproduce.
It all makes perfect sense, when it is realized that human beings are the spores of Gaia.
The only way for Gaia to reproduce is by producing intelligent life.
By means of technological and industrial development, intelligent life can spread
out through the galaxy, seeding dead planets with life so that ultimately they
can develop into new Gaias.
Thus are the above points simply explained.
Gaia laid down energy reserves to enable the industrial/scientific revolution to take place.
Gaia's breeding urge generates our urge to move into space and to terraform other planets.
Gaia's apparent failure to absorb our industrial wastes is not failure, but
her message that she wants us to leave, to take her seeds into space.
You observe nature to learn the nature of Gaia.
The mushroom grows silently in the ground for most of its life, then sprouts in brief
magnificence to release millions of spores, and dies.
A flower blooms, sets seed, and withers.
A mother nurtures her
young while they are helpless then chases them away when they mature, that they may spread her genes.
The message is clear. We must use the energy reserves laid up by Gaia for us.
We must pillage the earth in order to most rapidly spread the seeds of life to the stars.
Indeed, it is our sacred duty to do whatever we must to disperse life, however
much we might love the trees and small furry animals.
Gaia herself demands it!
Robin Miller
(with apologies to the original author)
Reply 6 of 6
