Dynamic Equilibrium between Life and Earth

After watching Home, I found myself in weighty conversation with a friend via Facebook messaging (November 2010).  We talked about a range of things, but here I want to capture those having to do with the environment.  I think about things, and care about working ideas and insights through with others.

Equilibrium Philosophy (2005)

I'm studying Einstein right now, and it's remarkable that earlier on, physics was just a hobby for him. While he came to be a 'giant' in this field, I guess he became more philosophical later on in life.

Also, that last quote ... The earth was first uninhabitable, but somehow the first signs of life began to radically change its atmosphere so it could actually support more life. That beginning of life was about 4 billion years ago, and humankind has been around a mere 200,000 years. Yet, we humans have done so much more to damage the earth :,(

Part of what keeps me busy, even on holidays, is coming up with better algorithms for solving big problems like our assault on the environment (whew) ...

you are a genius Ron and I am so glad that we have people like you who go out of their way trying to save our planet and make a difference. You are a gem and I wish you all the best of luck in coming up with solutions to this ever increasing problem before we all disintegrate!

It's going to take time, and a lot of pouring over my algorithms ... as I'm also trying to solve poverty, disease and conflict (whew [squared]) ... truly!

Oh, about your point regarding our disintegrating vis-a-vis the environment ...

Oh God YES PLEASE DO SHARE! I would love to know what is really going on from a scientific point of view. THANKS!

well, it can be boring and off-putting for some people ... but since you're interested ...

The fear is, the earth will not be able to support a still-rapidly growing population overall. And, by many people's account, experts included, the earth is already quite damaged and depleted. So it's a rather dire picture, isn't it.

My take, it is a dire situation, but not to the extent that many people would have us believe. You see, the earth knows perfectly well how to take care of itself and the life which depends on it. From my view, the very fact that the population keeps growing is a indication that the earth can still support it with its resources. This, by itself, is a good sign.

Now, there is a thing called 'climate migration.' I believe it's in Nigeria that farmlands have been so depleted that people are flocking to Lagos by the masses to make a living or more specifically to find sustenance. So I don't believe we'll disintegrate. Rather, we'll disperse, crowd, and continue to multiply if there is indeed enough resources to live on.

Unless we humans change our habits toward the environment, however, the earth will literally assert its 'wisdom' and exercise its power more and more (e.g., by not regenerating its resources so readily). (This is a bit more of a complicated argument, and I don't know enough about how the earth functions, yet.)

The result, I believe, will be the population stops growing or, worse, goes on the decline. This is not a good sign, but I don't think it's necessarily not a bad thing, either ... because a decline in population gives the earth time to recoup and still provide for us (remaining) humans.

Finally, I don't think we humans will ever disappear from the face of the earth, despite catastrophic predictions or doomsday films. We're an integral part of the overall ecosystem of the earth. But ... but ... again depending what we do vis-a-vis the environment, the equilibrium we have with the earth will look very different 100 years, or 1000 years, from now.

Reference, my article in February 2013: Weighing Worldwide Heartbreaks.