On Wed, 3 Sep 1997, Daniel L Krashin wrote:
> As far as the Gaia hypothesis goes, I know the originator of the idea is
> still busy writing books and articles on the subject -- if you look into
> them, you may find some of your work done for you already (always a good
> thing). AFAIK, the Gaia hypothesis, while fascinating in its implications
> and therefore a good subject for science fiction, is ultimately one of those
> interesting but untestable assertions which come up every so often... as
> such, it seems to have more in common with religious beliefs than scientific
> theories.
I think you're right. Certainly, as far as it has been picked up by
popularisers of green ideas the Gaia hypothesis seems to be important
rather for the spiritual ideas it implies rather than as a piece of
supporting science - I should note also that advocates of Gaia have in the
past often managed to rather offensively conflate the 'spirit' of the
superorganism that is earth with an older idea of 'Mother Nature' in a way
that takes unpleasantly essentialist notions of femaleness rather for
granted. Also, that in essence (oops!) the Gaia hypothesis does not of
itself support political ecological theory or action; if the
earth-organism is self-regulating, what is there for us to do?
> My biggest concern about the Gaia idea is that it may give people a false
> sense of security -- if you think that there is some force keeping the life
> on Earth safe, you sleep a little more soundly in your bed than if you think
> that life is only protected by the relative feebleness of humanity's
> destructive powers. Personally, I think the Earth would be just as happy as
> an airless desert like Mars or a greenhouse world like Venus... no more
> humans to make noise and set off atomic bombs in the crust, just peace and
> quiet until the sun dies.
And at the risk of repeating myself, that's why I think _Galapagos_ is so
interesting; one of very few sf novels that genuinely engages with an
anti-anthropocentric solution to environmental degradation - the earth
would indeed be a lot better off without humanity's "big brains"
> (next time I post, it'll be more on-topic!)
(ditto)
Lisa
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