Playing God
How is it possible to mimic natural systems without
playing God? Isn't eco-design just another mistake by
humans?
I just finished reading an article on Permaculture which
tried to answer this question and failed. In fact, i
don't remember ever seeing a good answer to this question.
The Permaculture author tried to say design is not playing
God (at least that was the impression i got). I didn't
agree with the arguments presented, so here are my ideas.
To really answer this question it is first necessary to define
the nature of "God" and assume a universal definition. Good
luck. Another problem is the question assumes a dichotomy
that we are either playing God or we are not playing God. It
ignores all the complex levels we connect with this earth.
Just living has an impact and it would be silly to say
to live is to play God.
What if mimicking natural systems is a dance with nature and
constantly changing. Whether God fits into all this is a
separate issue and changes with each persons religion. What
we can talk about is the process of dancing and the changing
music. We can't dictate to anyone else a definition of God
or insist that our God controls the music.
We all share the process and parts of the goal. We make
mistakes, we can't erase our impact, we are here and we
are in the game. We don't know all the rules and we don't
know all the answers. We do know this moment in time and
have choices. Not acting is a choice. Is this playing
God? Silly question.
If we want to have a serious discussion then lets change the
question to: What is a sustainable and ecological role for
humans in this world?
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Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
