Re: Announcing A New Unifying Principle of the Evolutionary


"rev.goetz" <jimgoetz316@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:dp57d7$183s$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> By the way, what is your defintion of "Gaia"?

Although I am skeptical of Lovelock, et al., I am happy enough
to use the word Gaia to mean the Earth (particularly including
the biosphere) considered as an active agent. One might view
Gaia as teleomatic, teleonomic, or completely teleological,
to use the terminology popularized by Mayr. One may also
view Her as fairly intelligent or fairly stupid. One may
view Her as a collective of agents with diverse and divergent
goals, or as a single entity with a single coherent goal.

My own current position is that She is teleological and
collective, and not particularly bright. Since She was first
proposed as a deity, I amuse myself by capitalizing the
pronouns, but I don't thereby wish to imply some belief
in the supernatural.

As an atheist and mechanist, I am not offended by language
which personifies aspects of the universe. I think that
it enriches our language and informs our intuitions. I
realize that it can be confusing in some contexts, but
I avoid those contexts - not being a particularly evangelical
atheist.


.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Announcing A New Unifying Principle of the Evolutionary
    ... > to use the word Gaia to mean the Earth (particularly including ... > the biosphere) considered as an active agent. ... > it enriches our language and informs our intuitions. ... > I avoid those contexts - not being a particularly evangelical ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)