Gaea theory

[kylie]

I was just curious as to what others thought of this theory. I like it, even though it contradicts Marxism in some ways, as it does have religious undertones, and also places humans as less important than what Marx theorised. I know it was either Marx or Engels who wrote about reality, and had an almost existentialist view of it, in that things did not exist until we recognised them, such as genes.
While Gaea theory would completely disagree with this and see humans as relatively insignificant.

(edit: i started rambling and forgot to add the 'even though&#39

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Is Gaea the 'living Earth' theory that pretends that Earth is a living organism?

[kylie]

No, its the idea that the planet is self regulating and itself, as a whole, is alive. Though this is quite different from claiming it's an organism.

[SonofRage]

Gaia Theory has different extremes. On one end, the view that the Earth is self-regulating is not generally disputed these days. The extreme where the Earth is viewed as being an actual single organism is not scientifically accepted.

[Looter]

Many Communists worship the Sun.

[BuyOurEverything]

Many Communists worship the Sun.

Um...

[Pete]

I support the Gaea theory.

I see it as a mix between the "organism" and "selfsustaining" theories, and I could care less about scientific acceptance, that changes with the wind as new theories are accepted in to "law." The Earth can be said to be alive, and if that is so we are just appendages of the Earth, as all living on the Earth are parts of the Earth. In taht way by needlessly destroying the environment to make a buck we are hurting our selves, some groups claim that as a link to the rise in stress. Personally, we interact enough with the other organisms around us that we could argue either one without much loss in either direction, since it is more just the semantics that change.

It is only logical that humans are not the most important being on the planet, or that any are the "most" important of all the billions in existance. Saying we are the most important is sort of like classism on an environment scheme.

Also I don't think that any one should take Marx and Engels literally on everything. They are just people. Sure the Gaea theory can appear to be a religion, I am using that to prove a point in my religion essay presently, but it is also based on much scientific research. Just accepting we are not all there is resembles religious experience, but accepting that we are the shit has other problems. Even human shit, in the end, breaks down into fertilizer for plants.

-Pete

[BuyOurEverything]

I believe that the universe is interconnected and all part of one system, whether you call that system an organism is just a irrelevant as the concept itself.

It is only logical that humans are not the most important being on the planet, or that any are the "most" important of all the billions in existance. Saying we are the most important is sort of like classism on an environment scheme.

Nothing is 'more important' than anything else in an absolute sense, only in the perspective of something else. If I'm starving, a sanwich is more important to me than a rock but the matter in the sanwich is not somehow 'more important' than the pebble terms of the universe.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I haven't heard of this being called the Gaia Theory, but I have thought a lot about it and agree with it.

An organism is just a system of particles that sustains itself and has defined boundaries. Thus, the Earth.

By the way, the philosopher David Chalmers proposed that any collection of particles (like the brain) can have a consciousness, and that thus even the earth can have a consciousness.

SO go hug yer tree!

[Looter]

I associate a consciousness with a magnetic field so that is why I think of the Sun and the Earth as beings with humungous minds, but to me the molten interior is the living part of the Earth and not the outer biosphere as in the Gaea theory.