Human beings who have entered the age of science and technology seem to be more and more self-proclaimed as the masters of the earth, and increasingly look down on nature. It is believed that as long as human beings are strong enough in science and technology, we can surpass the nature of the earth.
So will mankind have a day to overcome nature? If the earth’s nature is just a law of natural cycles, just a dead thing without any vitality, then it will be a matter of time for humans to defeat nature. However, with the rapid development of human technology, we have gained more knowledge about everything, nature, the universe and life. Some scientists have put forward a very bold conjecture, that is, the Earth Gaia hypothesis.
Many people may have heard of this Gaia hypothesis. It is a conjecture proposed by British scientist James Lovelock in the 1960s. James Lovelock believes that the earth may be an autonomously conscious life body, everything on the earth is a part of the body of this life body, and human beings are just temporarily staying on this body. In a sense, Human beings are equivalent to the parasites of the life form of the earth.
If the Gaia hypothesis is true, then not only humans are parasites of life on the earth, but millions of other lives are also parasites of the earth, but humans are more advanced parasites of wisdom. So why call this hypothesis the Gaia hypothesis? In fact, we still have to start with this Gaia.
Gaia is the mother of the earth in ancient Greek mythology, born at the beginning of chaos, and is the god of creation after the earth is deified. Her appearance represents the beginning of the world’s transformation from disorderly chaos to orderly things.
Gaia’s status in Western myths and legends is only somewhat similar to that of the Houtu emperor in the east. The difference is that Gaia’s position is more respected, she gave birth to the Greek gods, even the lord of the gods Zeus is her grandson.
James Lovelock compares the earth to an intelligent life body with self-regulating ability. The ocean, the earth, resources, magma, etc. are all part of this intelligent life body. The various parts of these life forms cooperate with each other to jointly maintain the stability of the earth’s ecology, so that life on the earth can continue to evolve and continue.
We all know that all living organisms have their own metabolism, which allows the material and energy between the organism and the environment to form an orderly and healthy self-renewal. The core of a living body is metabolism. This is also the most essential difference between a living body and other substances. Does the earth have its own metabolic function?
If we study, think and observe carefully, you will find that the earth really has its own metabolism. From a macro perspective, we regard the earth as a living body. You will find out, is the earth’s ecological cycle very similar to the human body’s metabolism?
The asthenosphere below the earth’s lithosphere continuously spews hot magma to the surface, forming spectacular volcanic eruptions and new crust. At the same time, the earth is constantly devouring various materials from outer space to enrich its crust and mantle. Therefore, the earth also has its own system of breathing, digestion and excretion, don’t you say that this is a complete life system?
At the same time, 71% of the earth’s surface area is the ocean, and the water cycle is the most important in the entire ecological cycle of the earth. In the past, we thought that the earth’s water cycle is the cycle between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. . The water inside the earth returned to the ground through geological activities such as volcanic eruptions and participated in the entire water cycle.
If these are not enough, let’s talk about the earth’s powerful ecological restoration capabilities. I believe many of my friends know that during the earth’s long 4.6 billion years, many ecological changes have occurred, especially in the history of life, there have been five biological changes. Mass extinction events were caused by drastic changes in the earth’s ecology each time. Even if the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, it was also caused by an asteroid impact on the earth that triggered a drastic ecological change.
It can make more than 80% of the earth’s creatures go extinct. This kind of ecological upheaval must be very terrifying, but such a powerful ecological upheaval did not destroy the earth, but was restored after a period of time after the mass extinction. The earth’s ecology has once again returned to the beautiful scenery of the past. Isn’t this powerful resilience just a kind of expressive ability of living organisms?
Although the solar radiation has continued to increase in recent years, the ground temperature has always remained stable; even if the ocean salinity is destroyed by many factors, it has always maintained a balance; even if natural disasters around the world continue, it can still recover after a period of time.
Who is regulating the activities of these biota and non-living things? There is no doubt that only the earth itself, the entire earth’s ecosystem is “alive”. Only the living ecosystem can continuously adjust itself, adapt to or repair the changing ecological environment. And this kind of self-equipment and recovery ability is unique to living organisms.
70% of the surface of the earth is water. We also call the earth a water ball, and 71% of the material in the human body is also water. Except for the human body, most of the constituent materials of other living organisms are also water. Why is the water content of the human body so similar to the surface water area of the earth? Is this a coincidence or is there a secret setting behind it?
In addition, we can also find many unusual things on the surface of the earth. For example, on the line of 30 degrees north latitude, there are many magical things, such as the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, the Chinese dragon frame with frequent beasts, and legends. The sunken Great Western Continent, the mysterious Bermuda Triangle, Babylon’s “hanging garden”, Jordan’s “Dead Sea”, ancient Egyptian pyramids and sphinxes, ancient Mayan civilization sites, the world’s deepest Mariana Trench, etc. Is this also a coincidence on this line?
In the most mysterious area of the earth, inside the earth, scientists heard a continuous mysterious buzzing sound through a special seismometer. What kind of sound is this? Although this sound cannot be heard by our human ears, it is very clear in front of a special seismograph. Through this exploration, we found that the earth has been breathing and making its own voice since the moment it was formed.
In recent decades, the continuous progress of human science and technology has brought continuous damage to the earth’s ecology. Some people believe that human activities and industrial production can destroy the earth in the future and make the earth a desolate planet like Mars and Venus. Is this really true? If we can simulate and restore the five mass extinction events on the earth, you will find that the damage done by humans to the earth is nothing at all.
The impact of pollution from human industrial activities on the ecology of the earth is minimal, even if one day in the future due to human pollution and destruction of the earth, it will no longer be able to adapt to human survival. However, after tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years or even longer, the earth will still slowly recover through its self-repairing ability and become a beautiful planet again.
Therefore, the current achievement of mankind is impossible to destroy the earth, and we can only temporarily affect the ecological changes of the earth. Although the earth provides us with an environment for survival, it is not as kind as we imagined. It treats us like sacrifices, allowing us to fend for ourselves.
The earth is an autonomous life body. If harmful factors appear in the body, she will take the initiative to fight back against these destabilizing behaviors and “purify” those creatures that are harmful to her. The manifestation of this kind of life form may be what we call the natural law of survival of the fittest.
If the earth is really a conscious life body, it will clean up the unfavorable factors for itself. Therefore, the occurrence of ecological upheaval is normal. At this time we have to think of the extinction of dinosaurs. Did dinosaurs really become extinct because of an asteroid hitting the earth? If the Gaia hypothesis is true and the earth is a conscious life form, could it be that the earth consciousness felt that dinosaurs could threaten the earth, so they had to be destroyed in the end?
After the destruction of the dinosaurs, the earth consciousness chose to let humans replace the dinosaurs. Finally, we can become a smart civilization, but now due to a large number of human industrial activities, it may also affect the life form of the earth. So in the future, once Gaia consciousness is found to be bad, will it also end humanity?
Human beings are neither the masters of the earth nor the managers of the earth, but just one of the creatures living on the earth. If one day, the Earth’s Gaia consciousness discovers the threat of mankind, it is also possible to launch another mass extinction event and make mankind disappear completely. Therefore, human science and technology must accelerate the pace of development. Only when we become an interstellar civilization can we completely get rid of the shackles of the earth.
Of course, the above-mentioned Gaia hypothesis is just a kind of brain-opened conjecture of scientists. Whether the earth is conscious and whether it is a living body still requires our continuous efforts to explore. If in the future, scientists prove that the earth is a conscious life form, it may be a subversive cognition of human beings. It’s just that at that time, more people may feel scared.