Sounds a lot like Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. As ever, Wikipedia is a good starting point for links and references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
Interesting factoid: the name Gaia was suggested to Lovelock by his neighbor William Golding (Lord of the Flies) -- Robert On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 4:26 PM, Russ Abbott <[email protected]> wrote: > For some reason it struck me particularly strongly the other day how > important it is that we conceptualize the world as an organism that we are a > part of and whose health and viability we must be aware of. To many people > this may seem like a trivial point: of course we must develop a global > consciousness. But for some reason it seemed that doing so would require a > form of conceptual phase transition, not just thinking about the global > system in some metaphorical way. > > In attempting to explain what I means, I wrote the following (on my > blog<http://russabbott.blogspot.com/2009/10/realizing-that-we-are-part-of-global.html>). > I'm copying it here for convenience. The following feels to me like a > groping attempt to say something that many people may consider obvious. I > think it's more than the usual global awareness meme, but I'm having a hard > time explaining precisely why. > > It seems to me that what we need on a world-wide basis is a realization > that we have reached the point that we must look at the world as a whole as > a single organism. What that means is that instead of thinking of ourselves > as multiple organisms (at the individual or country level) living within a > relatively open and unlimited environment—which had made reasonable sense in > the past—we are now at the point of global organization, influence, and > connectivity that we must think of ourselves as components, e.g,. organs. of > a single larger organism. > > Many people are going to resist that change of perspective, saying that it > gives up national autonomy. But I'm afraid there's no longer a real question > of national autonomy. The heart can't say that it doesn't want to think of > itself as being a part of a larger organism because that reduces its > autonomy. The fact is, it is a part of a larger organism, like it or not. > The only valid large-scale question from now on will be what should be done > to ensure that the larger organism remains healthy. There will always be > smaller-scale questions having to do with dividing up resources made > available by a healthy overall organism. But the fundamental question will > have to do with maintaining the health and viability of the larger organism > itself. > > This really is a change of perspective. The world (the planet) as an > organism can be healthy or not given the the use it makes of the resources > available to it. It can even be healthy without imposing a rigid overall > controlling agency. Fortunately we now know of many entities that are > successful without an overall top-down controller. Most biological organisms > are examples as are stable ecological systems and many successful social > organisms/organizations. But there will have to be overall structures that > constrain various aspects of the component elements. And people will > complain about those constraints as violations of their freedom or national > autonomy. > > But I'm convinced that if our current civilization is to survive as a > global system in anything like its current form, we have to make the switch > from thinking of ourselves as elements living within an open environment > (the rugged American frontiersman) to being components of a larger organism > whose overall health we must monitor and maintain—for our own survival. > > This is not just a metaphor: the world as an global system. It is a > different perspective on what actually exists. We have known (but have not > paid too much attention to) the idea that the global ecosystem cannot be > understood except on a global scale. But for most of human history that > ecosystem has taken care of itself—and us—without our having to think about > it very much. The new global environmental awareness now adds to our > understanding of the global ecosystem the fact that we (human society) can > actually affect it—for good or more likely for bad—and if we are not aware > of how we are affecting it we are likely to suffer serious consequences. > > But I'm saying even more than this. The global system is not just > ecological. It is economic, social, political, and cultural as well. We are > now a global economic system—and ignoring the importance of that will do us > at least as much harm as ignoring the fact that human society is now a > significant aspect of the global ecological system. Being a global social > and economic system doesn't mean that we must be a homogeneous system. The > US and many other countries show how economic and cultural diversity can > survive within a larger overall cultural, social, and political system. But > pockets of diversity can't survive on their own. And they can't be > absolutely free to do whatever they want to do. There will have to be some > overall cultural, social, and political constraints. Figuring out how to > organize the overall system so that it is minimally constraining is one of > the challenges we have faced and will continue to face. But we can't pretend > that there will not be an overall system that must be kept viable and > healthy. > > Is the world a single organisms whose health we must look after? If so—and > at this point we are so interconnected that it seems hard to doubt it—we > must acknowledge that fact and begin to take seriously our responsibility > for maintaining the health of the global organism. Thinking this way will be > a transition that will be difficult for many people. But it's a transition > we must make. > > -- Russ A > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
