Gaia theory

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Gaia

The concept of Gaia - the Earth itself as a self-regulating biological super- organism - was put forward by J. E. Lovelock in 1979, 24 years after Chardin's death, but had Chardin been aware of the concept I think he would have embraced it. In any event, it seems to me that the Gaia concept clears up some of the murky issues surrounding Chardin's views of the hyper-Earth or ultimate Earth, in that it allows us to place the modern experience of Man - which Chardin (and many others) have recognized as a turning point, not only in the history of Man, but in the history of life - in the context of the biological evolution and ontological development of Gaia herself.

We all have come to recognize that the modern era is a time of peculiar crisis and enormous change of a very fundamental kind in the long history of life. Man is now in control of the evolutionary process itself, he creates new elements, tames the nuclear fires of the atom, understands natural law, creates artificial intelligence, sends rockets to the planets, etc. The Earth has never seen anything like it. But what does it all mean? From the viewpoint of Gaia, the answer turns out to be quite simple - which is perhaps the best reason for adopting this or any other hypothesis - Gaia is flowering, and we are her seeds, to be dispersed into the solar system and as far into the galaxy as we can reach. This is precisely the great change that every thinking person recognizes has come over the earth: in man, Gaia finally found the species she was looking for to carry her life into the galaxy and colonize new territory, for like every other life form Gaia has a limited life span (the Sun or the asteroids will eventually kill her), which can only be extended by reproduction and dispersal. With man as her agent, Gaia has entered her reproductive phase, and put at man's disposal all her stored energy for this mighty effort. Will Gaia, like the salmon, perish in one great reproductive effort, with all her reserves exhausted, or will she, like a great tree, produce seeds for many generations to come? It is up to us to ensure that the latter course is followed.

The hyper-life form that Chardin envisioned forming above social Man is in fact Gaia ( level 8 - Earth plus Man), and the final separation and exodus of this hyper-life form from Earth "at the end of the world" is in fact the reproduction of Gaia through Man as he colonizes new planets in the galaxy (levels 9+). Even though Chardin considered but rejected the prospect of space travel, it is exactly what he was seeing intuitively, without recognizing it. I think the Gaia hypothesis would have helped Chardin clarify his thoughts on this issue by giving them more material substance.

Every attribute of humanity and our whole history, indeed our whole future, is contained and explained in this single hypothesis, and much of Chardin's rather murky views of the future of Earth can be translated into clearer terms under this strictly biological scenario. Chardin rejected the notion of space travel in his day (he wrote in the 1930s) as too improbable, but I do not think he would do so today. Consummate biologist and systems thinker that he was, I believe Chardin would have embraced the notion of Gaia as an evolutionary unit, which like every other biological entity, is born, matures, reproduces, and dies. In this we see the great responsibility and privilege laid upon our species - Gaia lives or dies with us. We carry her hopes for the future with our own. May God bless us in this great enterprise, and may we execute it faithfully, wisely, and reverently.