Gaia / Lovelock

[Max]

I was discussing religion and God with someone the other day, and they presented this:

what if Lovelock was right and the Earth is simply a mega-organism? We would simply be an evolutionary development of the whole. How would that change our definition of the natural and supernatural? If humanity were, although individually clever, just a dimly self-aware part of the planet then what would God be? We would have to start thinking in terms of the planet as being one person. And if we did that then what is the purpose or meaning of Earths existence?

I'm not too familiar with Lovelock, and there doesn't seem to be anything in the archives on him. However, from what I read of Gaia theory, it doesn't sound as though it's a religion let alone something that would support whether God exists or not... or am I completely off on this?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Gaia theory is more of an analogy than a strict rule. Just because the world could be a single organism doesn't mean it would be intelligent.

[Spoonist]

Lovelock's theory of a Gaia biota has nothing to do with theology. It is new age flummery that connects the Gaia theory, with the Gaia deity of old.
So you are right at the basis that this does nothing for a discussion on god's existance, however if your friend is into new age or neopaganism or have just read one of the sci/fi books which uses this idea then it could be an extended Gaia theory that has mutated beyond Lovelock's theorem.

Wiki has some articles on Lovelock if I remember correctly.

[Surlethe]

Don't you think if we were part of a huge mega-organism, it would be blindingly obvious? Regardless, I don't see why that should change one's conception of the natural and the supernatural.

[Junghalli]

Don't you think if we were part of a huge mega-organism, it would be blindingly obvious?

It kind of depends on how loosely you define organism, I guess. Ecosystems, civilizations, and insect hives do share some characteristics with organisms in that they're self-organizing entities of many tiny individual components (lifeforms, people, insects and cells respectively).

Gaia as self-aware is New Age crap though, it has absolutely no basis in scientific theory whatsoever. It's interesting that very few people claim civilizations or insect hives are self-aware, even though they display significantly more in the way of intelligent behavior than ecosystems.

[Ariphaos]

I'm not too familiar with Lovelock, and there doesn't seem to be anything in the archives on him. However, from what I read of Gaia theory, it doesn't sound as though it's a religion let alone something that would support whether God exists or not... or am I completely off on this?

The Gaia hypothesis postulates that the planet's lifeforms actively maintain their biosphere. Different people take this to different levels - the thought that it is an actual intelligent entity is certainly... religious.

But the hypothesis itself isn't without merit. Organisms can and do modify the biosphere on large scales. Plankton creating cloud cover in response to UV rays, for example.

Working it as a single organism is simple semantics. No more or less so than calling the United States a single entity.