A Dabble at Thought

I love metaphors. A computer is hardware and software working together in symbiosis to form a whole. Each part is useless without the other. This simple example can be used as a metaphor for describing the function of earth:

Earth and it's biomass (from the inner core to the outer fringes of the biosphere - all material) comprise the hardware, or, physical structure like that of a CPU. Furthermore, through evolutionary trial and error, DNA currently exists as the computational code for life to follow - it's the program. Finally, "life" can be described as the running software, or, operating system, by which the planet as whole runs in tandem. The overarching PURPOSE of such a system has yet to be realized; few people could predict the impact of modern computers on society back in the 1940's when they were still working out it's basic function.

             Gaia Theory seeks to view earth as a singular functioning organism, that evolves through time and space with progressively more sophisticated variations of biodiversity. This evolutionary diversification process effectively ensures the stability of the changing ecosystem as a whole despite changes in speciation, extinction, climate change and other cosmic effects such as the sun's increase in size and heat production. It follows that with each passing revolution around the sun, man (and woman now!) uses his/her rational curiosity to connect bigger and broader ideas together, from which previously had nothing to do with one another. This, essentially, is the evolutionary process of our ever-flourishing collective consciousness.

             The example of a computer, stated above, is appropriate given what the computer as a singular unit has yielded: when reproduced many times over, the Internet.

             With this metaphor in mind, is the internet a primitive neural network for the earth's attempt at consciousness? The internet is a solution for organization of our individual thoughts and ideas. Each human represents a single unit of thought, like a bit of information. Only once every contributing human mind is on the same page (ie. pure theoretical democracy), can they collectively begin to most effectively and efficiently solve the human "problems" on earth, otherwise known as the achievement of homeostasis. Interestingly enough, it is the process of democratization itself that lays the very foundation we currently lack. This solves half the problem in and of itself by organizing and agreeing to some basic rules we can then extrapolate from. In this light, the theory of democracy is the earth's attempt to focus a rational consciousness; with it's greatest tool at hand, the internet.

             This theory can change individual human perception of their daily reality, insofar as they can begin solving problems from the "top down" with holistic preventative measures, rather than a patchwork approach of disconnected methods which invariably yield unsustainable results. Ex. the failure to collectively agree on solving/preventing catastrophic climate change - this inability to focus and agree (disorganization) throws off the balance of earth's homeostasis overall.

             Is it not interesting to note that most major cities were built close to large bodies of water in their infancy, the largest of which reside close to an ocean. The cities of mass industry contribute the most concentrated areas of pollution into the atmosphere. If such pollution is to cause global warming and the melting of the polar caps, the rise in sea level by seven meters is enough to wipe out those very cities first, thus shrinking the perimeter of dry land, and effectively resetting the space from which we are to build. This may be coincidence, but it feels very much like an inherently self-correcting system, much like our own immune system.

             Humans on an individual scale possess the entire spectrum of our value, or lack there of. A murdering society will inevitably kill itself off with nukes, whereas a loving and peaceful society will thrive and grow with each successive reproduction of itself. It appears that if we are to continue down the path we are currently headed, from space we would be seen as a virus to the earth. If we are to organize, focus and connect, we will recede back into the balance of all life.

             The question that remains: are we a virus or the next logical evolutionary step? You decide you tiny little bit of information you.