Comments on: On Expansion and Scale

By: Edward Mills

Edward Mills — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:17:45 +0000

I have skimmed Lovelock’s book, but have not made time to really dive into the theory. I love the idea that the Earth is becoming pregnant. It feels right. For a long time I bought into the idea that the Earth was becoming pissed off at us for the way we are treating her. But that no longer rings true for me. That she might be gestating in preparation for a new birth feels true. And it means that we, as a species, are gestating along with her.

I can’t wait to see what is growing inside of us !

By: Justin Ruckman

Justin Ruckman — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:20:44 +0000

Are you familiar with the Gaia hypothesis -- specifically the idea that global warming, etc. isn't the Earth becoming sick, but pregnant? There's a really good article on this floating around somewhere, maybe on Future Hi, but it's avoiding me right now. This post on macroscale engineering however, and the links inside, look interesting.

By: Edward Mills

Edward Mills — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 20:53:24 +0000

Impressively quick response, Justin! Thanks. It leads me to believe that there is hope for humans and viruses to become sources of positive contribution within our respective environments. Certainly we are seeing, and have seen throughout history, glimpses of positive human contributions to this planet, even in the midst of our, overall, somewhat virus-like expansion upon this planet.

And in a recent Scientific American I read of a nanotech researcher who is using viruses as the scaffolding upon which to create materials at the molecular level.

It seems we may be heading into an age where our perceptions of good and bad, useful and destructive, get turned inside out.

I, for one, certainly hope so.

By: Justin Ruckman

Justin Ruckman — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:43:25 +0000

Speaking of relative scale, I’ve long wondered about the relative scale of a virus compared to the human body, vs. a human body compared to the Earth. Am I way off in thinking that the relative scale might be comparable?

I think it’s pretty valid. If you go by the logarithmic scale above there are roughly seven degrees of separation between humans and Earth, and eight between humans and DNA. When you figure in that viruses are essentially a little DNA/RNA and protein it seems to balance out the scale.

Then of course this applies to not just humans but all macro-organisms: dolphins, elephants, hummingbirds, kittens, baby pandas …

As for certainty, who’s to say our planet exists in the middle of any kind of life-supporting planet size bell curve? Any statistical fuzziness in these observations of relative scale is resolved by the fact that most of our data is restricted to our local sample set — our single point in the universal population of star systems, planets, organisms, molecules …

By: Edward Mills

Edward Mills — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:28:27 +0000

Hi Justin

As a student of the Human Energy Systems and avid explorer of the inner world - admittedly very non-scientific exploits - I am very much a believer in the symmetrical nature of our existence. The phrase “as above so below,” used to explain the accuracy of various astrological systems, seems to be gaining more validity as scientists gain a better understanding of both the “above” and the “below.”

Thanks for noticing and sharing this observation.

And I’ve got a question for you. Speaking of relative scale, I’ve long wondered about the relative scale of a virus compared to the human body, vs. a human body compared to the Earth. Am I way off in thinking that the relative scale might be comparable?