metaphysics

Jun_13_2008 James Lovelock was talked about on some web site the other day. It's had me thinking. Is it plausible to think of the earth or the biosphere as a living entity? So my thoughts went way back to here... http://home.ccil.org/~remlaps/weblog_2006/metaphysics_index.html#SurvivalOfFittest100706 I think a reasonable case could even be made for viewing a collection of multicellular organisms as a live entity. I forget where I read it or exactly what it said, but a couple years ago, someone wrote something like this in an article ... "The more we learn about how our bodies function, the more we are forced to the conclusion that I am 'we'". The point being that at any given time, our bodies contain communities of microorganisms and many of them contribute to our health and functioning. Q: What do unicellular organisms, multicellular organisms and even various communities have in common? A: Goal directed behavior. Intelligent or not, they behave in a way so as to ensure nutrition, survival and reproduction at the highest level of the hierarchy. So does that apply to "Gaia"? I don't see how it does. From where I sit, "Gaia" looks more like a random walk than free choice. So far, color me unconvinced. Link for this entry: http://home.ccil.org/~remlaps/weblog_2008/metaphysics_index.html#Gaia13June08