I was thinking about a theory that was put in my head by Joe Rogan of all people. People = parasites. If you look at our behaviour it makes sense. Viewing the Earth as a giant organism, with thousands of micro-organisms (Us animals etc,) then we are slowly taking over, expanding, and changing that organism to better suit only OUR living style. Not only we are changing it, but were slowly destroying it / wasting it. Food for Thought? Peace and Love KG
Well i get what you and the Matrix and other misanthropists say... i think we arent a parasite, but rather the ultimate predator All animals produce more than what can be sustained, thats part of evolution. The problem we face is, we no longer live in a natural environment. We have scarred the planet with our buildings and cured our ailments, we have no threats to our existence except other humans and pollution thus our population skyrockets But the real problem i have with ppl saying humans = virus is that ppl use the fact that we continue to propagate, and use resources. Thats not being "parasitic" thats being alive, its something all animals do, not just parasites. we just have no checks or balances, theres no eat and be eaten... we just eat then eat and eat until 50% of our nation is obese. We need to take a serious look at what we are doing to our environment (after all, we need a place to live) We arent inherently good or evil, just too smart for our own good, technology put us far past the cries of natural selection, and has led to the beginning of our environments destruction. Now we need to use our technologies to help our host, to ensure we live longer. Puts me in a pickle, should i stop driving my car, never turn my TV or pc on again, just kill myself to better the world? Nah, ill keep livin, drivin and killin the planet. Luckily I think we are at a great point in humanity, we have so much food that obesity is one of ourt biggest problems, fewer ppl die of disease, violent crimes, and warfare, and thanks to the internet we have instant global comunication. Theres hope we can be a little less parasitic and a little more symbiotic.
I heard this tidbit from somewhere: If all insects were to vanish on Earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would die out. If all humans were to vanish on Earth, the rest of life on Earth would fluorish.
honestly I would believe that atleast partially. we really don't contribute nearly as much back into the ecosystem as we take out. out of balance with nature maybe?
I don't reckon we're parasites; the Earth isn't an organism, it's a planet. It just has organisms living on it. If the Earth was a living organism, then sure, we'd be parasites. It's not, though, so technically, we're not parasites. Right? It's interesting. But humans are one species, whereas insects...there has to be thousands. It's not really a fair comparison. But yeah...interesting
What do we do to help the earth? Nothing, really. The only time we "help" the earth is when we do things to mitigate our effects on earth. We are at the top of the food chain, too, so we dont do anything there either. We certainly do more harm than good. Man, I so wish I was high while thinking about this. Ill try to remember this next time I smoke, this is one of those great things to think about well high. Well time to get back to sleep again.
Chrono Trigger is a classic, many childhood hours were spent playing that game and they just re released it for the DS No we are not parasites, would you call some birds parasites because they live in trees and get their nutrition from the sap. no that is simply their habitat. Our Habitat is earth Edit: Ignorance
allrighty then trees aren't living orginisims........strange I thought they were they grow and make babies. I agree on the earth is a living thing not just a collection of individual orginisims,right or wrong Its how I like to look at it.There are things called symbiots that are actually two or more originisms that share physical connections and can exist seperatly sometimes but not always.Mant things on this planet we could not survive without ....Trees being one by the way. Take away all the algae in the ocean and see how long anything else survives.Not seeing the connection dose not mean its is not there.
Belief that the Earth is not a living thing is what is bringing us closer to extinction. Parasites, bacteria, whatever you want to call it. We have a symbiotic relationship with this planet and we're abusing it.
Yeah you both have good points and I kind of agree with you... How I reason it, though, is this. We started as this random rock in the middle of space, and by some inexplicable chance life created itself... But that life created itself on the Earth, after the Earth was created. So the Earth is really, deep down, just a rock. Life grew and took over, trees and plants and insects and dinosaurs and humans, every living thing... but technically, the actual earth isn't alive. Just all it's inhabitants. Fuck, I'm talking technically, I think I agree with you in the spiritual way haha. my bad...
Life came from the ocean, the ocean came from the atmosphere, the atmosphere came from volcanic eruptions. What we forget is that this planet isn't actually just a rock. There's layers of rock, yeah, but that's not all there is to it. I like to think of the Earth as a big potted plant. The moon is a rock. Look at the difference between the moon and earth and you'll see the difference between rock and living organism. It's not just a spiritual metaphor, lol.
and lets not forget there are microbes that even live in rocks and deep under ground as well.In the deepest caves and in the ice in antartica. life actually started in the atmosphere with a bolt of lightning and volcanic gasses is the present guess creating ammino acids .....lets not go to the god said let there be thing so that couldnt be true ,because nobody knows how god would have done the deed and if god did create life he just might have used that method.Believing in a supreame being does not mean everything just appeared in one instant. The earth regulates its temperature with flowing currents of water and air adsorbs toxins and in general provides a enviroment in which we can live by storing things which are toxic to us in out of the way places in ways we still dont entirely understand.uranium is not found all over the surface of the planet for some reason.methane is stored deep underwater in the ocean and a few lakes.Accident or intelligent design,who can tell?I myself hold that either way the earth lives,yes parts are simple mirerals and inert matter ....but the same holds for humans your body is not all living cells by the way hair is dead cells,fingernalis are dead cells,bone is mostly simple calcium deposited in a support framework.Eerything in a orginism dosent have to be living tissue to be part of a living thing.
No shit Sherlock, did you figure that out all by yourself? It's because we are at the top of the food chain, while insects are at the bottom.
The difference between the moon and the earth isn't a difference between rock and living organism, it's a difference between rock that cannot support life, and rock that can support life. Firstly, the microbes that live "in rocks and deep underground" are, obviously, living things inhabiting an unliving thing, the Earth. All those tiny bacteria, all those miniscule microbes in the deep corners of the Earth are just that; living things, inhabiting an unliving thing. Secondly, don't make claims you can come nowhere to proving; noone knows with any certainty how life started on Earth; a lightning bolt is just a possibility. Thirdly, your analogy of a human body is... Well, put it this way, you can't compare the Earth and a human. The Earth does not have a beating heart that sends blood all around it's body. The Earth does not have fingers or toes or dead hair or kidneys or livers or an immune system. In another sense I kind of agree with you, though. It's a good point that not everything in an organism has to be living for the whole organism to be alive. I just don't think that the Earth itself, not it's inhabitants, the actual Earth that's been around for billions of years, is a living thing. Obviously... But chill, man...
I learned at a young age, we are raping the planet. Highways, streets and roads are the massive scars on the face of the earth that we've created. Buildings, houses.. simply massive sores and boils on the face of the earth. The earth doesn't have an audible voice to scream with when it's in pain. The earth screams back with the only way it can express it self. Typhoons, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions.. Nobody connects these things together though. I get it. I can hear the earth's pain. Can you? Now theres something to think about, eh.