Gaia hypothesis: Science on a pagan planet

[@richardcrossman3892]

I didn't get round to looking at the screen for the first twenty or so minutes and could have sworn that Ken Dodd (who really is a great reader) had turned his thoughts to philosophy. This talk had me captivated - it was invigorating to see so many famous names pulled out from the ether and thread like beads on to a string, in fact the string of organicism. By not falling prey to premature discursive endings, Ruse shows himself to be a fantastic and sharp contributor to getting us to slow down, enjoy the power of language and talk, and feel inspired to look for ourselves at the subtle patterns that ideas have imprinted on history. Brilliantly entertaining without compromising the heart's search for meaning and integration.

[@rd264]

Lovelock et al should get the Nobel Prize for their efforts to teach GAIA within a neurotically rejectionist western materialist culture.

[@blurryimage4585]

Splendid lecture. The Earth clearly shows signs of homeostasis, but so do buffering solutions. The criticism of the original hypothesis is in place, especially when it comes down to gaia altruism, however, a more thorough scrutiny of what looks like global homeostatic mechanisms may be very interesting and even important.

[@elfootman]

26:26 to the actual hypothesis, skip the gossip.

[@scholtzspider]

Super interesting talk! Thanks so much for the UL.

[@BluwSerj]

I find this to be a very interesting lecture, thanks! :)

[@williamarthurfenton1496]

I can sympathise with the conventional establishment reaction at the time-- they really didn't like the idea of the cretinous hippy brigade feeling vindicated in their idiotic meaningless happy-happy hysterical fawning. Also didn't Lovelock himself concede the idea was rather underdeveloped in the early days? Is it not also the case that many new big ideas are often received with utter contempt and at best ridicule?

[@ValarMorghulis...]

The sun has become twice as hot but the earth stays, like a human, at a certain temperature - uh 98.6 degrees if you will.... So there was no scorching solar maximums and ice ages? The earth's temp bounces around everywhere. Either way the earth is not a being/organism, it's a collection of elements that allow for organisms. Yes it's beautiful and wonderful but it's also deadly and deprave on earth, no not just human activity that's not what I'm referring to. Yes the earth RESPONDS but that doesn't make it alive, it makes it MATTER - a collection of elements that are influenced by the plasma/electromagnetic sun/universe as a whole...I mean you can say the universe is alive, because it is, but it's not a being. The whole god(s) thing is simply a mere reflection of the human psyche. We mirror the mysterious after our own thoughts, basically we are human and we can only conceive of being human therefore god(s) we create are human with our characteristics BUT BETTER! Superman etc is just as relevant as any other god or super being/entity... It's called personification. Check out the expanding earth, NOT growing earth, and the electric/electromagnetic/plasma universe and the Thunderbolts Project... That's some real interesting shit right there. New Age woo woo will always be here because it's always a new age, every moment. Time doesn't exist, it's another figment of imagination. It's always been NOW, we just use distance to measure something that is ALWAYS happening yet nobody realizes it. It's always NOW and always has been, no matter birth or death. Nothing also doesn't exist because there is only everything, or else we wouldn't be here. The big bang is a mainstream science institutional religious idea, they had to come up with their own "creation" but the fact is this place has always been here and it always will and it evolves and interacts etc etc etc. I might be wrong on the last few sentences but that's what I'm in belief of (somewhat for now) and researching at the moment.