A Dialogue Concerning the Value of Intelligence to GAIA

Timothy Wilken
Jivan Vatayanwrote: The Ecodiversity Lifeform (mischaracterized as Gaia)
The concept of GAIA is well known to synergic scientists. As I understand it the term Ecodiversity Lifeform is unique to your writing. If I have mischaracterized your term as just another name for GAIA, I apologize. Perhaps you could point me to a full discussion of your concept. That said, I think this thread began with the discussion of GAIA and my implied role for humanity within her and her need for intelligence. I will address this more in a moment but let me continue with your statement. 
The Ecodiversity Lifeform (mischaracterized as Gaia) appears to have a basic drive of stabilizing the climate so as to maintain existing ecosystems. It is speculatively possible that this drive developed as a result of hundreds of millions of years of selection of compatible ecosystems. Presumably organisms and ecosystems that pushed positive feedback loops continued to die out until the negative feedback of compatible organisms and ecosystems began to re-enforce a more stable regime and the consequent integrity of The Ecodiversity Lifeform. My understanding of this “organismic integrity” is similar to Tom’s: “She is a solar-powered, self-organizing, self-regulating complex adaptive system -purposeful” to the limited extent that they seek to manage the immediate environment so that they may keep on keepin’ on.”
I am mostly in agreement with this characterization of GAIA at this point in her evolution. I would state further that her ability to maintain existing ecosystems is also of great benefit for humanity whether we realize it or not. And, up to this point in Earth’s history, humanity has not died out. I further assume most members of this group (with a few loud exceptions) would prefer that we did not die out.
My argument is that humanity is just as much a part of LIFE as any bacterium. We are just as much a cell in the body of GAIA as any slime mold. We humans are not separate from LIFE.
Yet most humans living today believe and act as if they were separate. But, if or when the dieoff predicted by Jay Hanson comes, 6 billion bodies will return to the earth, the molecules and atoms that make up those bodies will be released for use by other systems, and someday would probably be incorporated into fossil fuels. ;>)
Earlier, I wrote: Humans are the potential neurons of GAIA.
Jivan Vatayan responded: There is NO evidence up to now (that I can discern) that The Ecodiversity Lifeform benefits whatsoever from human neurons. Rather the coupled and interdependent systems of compatible genetically adapted ecosystems and organisms that drive the Ecodiversity Lifeform are manifestly endangered by the human presence.
As a physician I have attended patients who were brain dead. Some of these individuals were young. Their bodys worked quite well. They breathed. Their hearts beat. Their metabolism keep their cells in perfect homestasis. The nurses provided water and calories with feeding tubes. Some survived for years in this state. One could argue that they had no need for neurons either. As a biologist and physician, I am very impressed with the human body. It is an amazing and powerful system even without neurons. But without neurons, there is no music, no art, no poetry, no science, and no knowing. I would argue that the human body although still magnificent is much less than human without neurons.
I absolutely agree that present humanity has very little to offer GAIA. Present humanity is made up of adversary humanity that believes success requires someone to lose, and neutral humanity that believes everything is only a product to be offered for sale, and that all problems can be solved with money.
However, a future humanity — a synergic humanity—committed to co-Operation, viewing itself as part of LIFE, with a responsibility to all LIFE and to EARTH could be of great value to GAIA.
Yes, as previously written here, we could protect GAIA from a comet. We could also clone and replace important, but lost species of plants and animals. We could begin protecting GAIA’s ecosystems instead of exploiting or ignoring them. In fact, we haven’t even begun to imagine the good we could do if we simply committed to helping Nature. Elsewhere, I have written:

The Trustegrity Guardians will be charged with protecting 1)Humanity as Community, and 2)Humanity as Individuals, 3)the plants and animals, 4)the Earth and all Natural Resources, and 5)Intellectual Property and the Time-binding Trust

They will protect and conserve the Earth and the Natural Resources – including both the renewable resources – soils, water, and minerals – and the nonrenewable resources – coal, petroleum, natural gas, metals and other mineral ores.

They will protect LIFE – plant, animal and human.  

The Life and Earth Trusts are finite and fragile. Once a species of plant or animal becomes extinct, it is lost forever. Once our nonrenewable resources are consumed they are lost forever. And even the renewable resources can be damaged by careless use. And once damaged, they may not be repairable.

The Synergic Trustegrities hold all land and all the natural resources including native plants and wildlife in synergic trust. Land and natural resources cannot be owned. Land may leased as living sites for individuals and families. Land may be invested as production sites for manufacturing and commerce and earn revenue shares on behalf of the Trust. Natural resources may be invested in synergic production if it serves the interests of humanity as community and public welfare. Such investment would earn revenue shares on behalf of the Synergic Trustegrities.

The revenues the Synergic Trustegrities receive from their leases and investments are used not only to protect and preserve the synergic trusts, but also to help others.

The Trustegrity Guardians accept as their primary responsibility the protection of humanity as community and humanity as individual. They will seek to ensure that all humans are safe from crime and war; that all humans have access to shelter, nutrition, medical care, and education. They will further accept responsibility for the provision of good care and life support for all humans in need – children and adults – the ill and injured, the poor and destitute, and the homeless.

Read more about the concept of Synergic Trustegity.

Then I wrote: GAIA is a new organism that is currently self-organizing. Gaia is still a fetus. She had not yet been born. This is my fundamental point. The Earth and all LIFE presently on the Earth represent the tissues and organs of GAIA.

Jivan Vatayan responded: I disagree. The Ecodiversity Lifeform was likely born as soon as life became a planetary phenomena. As archaeabacteria spread across the Earth and began exchanging genes the entire Earth soon became the initial stage of the Ecodiversity Lifeform – the Bacterial Superorganism. Presumably – right from the beginning – through fits and starts- this superorganism began selecting for bacteria that stabilized the superorganism.
I would say that you are only describing the body of GAIA. In a fetus, life begins with two cells. The last part of the organism to be developed is the central nervous system. The brain continues developing even after birth. We do not consider human children fully capable of reponsibility until they are 18 years of age.
A Brain for GAIA
The last system completed within the development of a embryo is the nervous system and brain. We are now entering the final phase of GAIA’s evolution. This is where the brain of the new organism will emerge. Today, mind and brain scientists have made enormous progress in understanding how the human brain works. There has been many surprises in these recent advances. But the biggest shocker is that the brain doesn’t decide what to do. Decision making is not controlled centrally in the brain. The mind-brain appears to act as a coordination and consensus system for all the cells, tissues, and organs in the body. The brain doesn’t decide to eat. The cells of the body decide to eat, the brain coordinates their activity and carries out the consensus will. Our human brain stores the gathered information from the body’s sensing of its environment, the brain presents opportunities for action reflective of both the sensing of environment and the needs and goals of the 40,000,000,000,000 cells it serves. The brain is not the leader of the body, it is the follower of the body. It is a system that matches needs in the body with its sensing of opportunities to meet these needs by action within the environment. The brain is a ‘government’ that truly serves its constituents– the cells, tissues, and organs that make up the human body. The apparent ‘I’ is not real. It is really a ‘we’. We have mistaken self-organization for directed organization.
As a biologist I can see that the new ‘Knowing and Connecting Technology’—The Internet can furnish the basis for the creation of the ‘brain’ to serve a unified species serving GAIA. As a physician, as a scientist, and as a human, I wish to participate in the creation of GAIA’s ‘brain’.
Then I wrote: But GAIA as a thinking, self-conscious, automonous, reproductive capable organism is not yet born.
Jivan Vatayan responded: I can see no possibility or reason that “thinking” would be part of the functioning of this organismic integrity. Thinking would be entirely superfluous for the Ecodiversity Lifeform. The only function for “thinking” that would be helpful to The Ecodiversity Lifeform would be if humans developed a “Gaian view” and empathy for The Ecodiversity Lifeform so as to Break the Human Centered Trance and to lessen the harm of the human species (analagous to a cancer) to The Ecodiversity Lifeform).
I agree. We need to change our minds. Only a synergic humanity could function as a brain for GAIA.
Then I wrote: Now we humans may seem flawed, but I don’t think that is really the case.
Jivan Vatayan responded: Armed with “progressive technos” and the legacy of our primate heritage and the long history of human conditioning, the human species is pre-adapted to become creatively a-biotic to The Ecodiversity Lifeform. Our species success is a failure to the diversity of life on Earth. We progressively co-opt the energy of more and more niches of the rest of Life as our species success unfolds. Traditionally our success has been a “growth”. As we grow in population, grow in consumption, grow in technological ability to alter and consume the energy once distributed throughout an ecosystem and become alienated to The Ecodiversity Lifeform by living as if we could live without it, we succeed in the grand failure of degrading the diversity, resilience and elegance of The matrix of Life – The Ecodiversity Lifeform. As long as humans are growing in these cancerous ways and worshiping the primacy of humans over the whole of Life – we are flawed in regards to the eco-diversity of life on Earth.
I agree it is time for humanity to grow up. See Alfred Korzybski‘s Manhood of Humanity.
Then I wrote: I think we are just ignorant of our proper role in Nature, and thinking we are the end product. So we live on the surface of Nature but not in Nature.
Jivan Vatayan responded: To move in a more positive direction would necessitate a different mode of being, thinking and feeling of the entire human species about the body of life we live inside of. I call this the EarthSelf. It appears to me that humans would need to bond with 4 basic principles about Life to be reduce the harm we are doing and move in a more synergetic direction to The Ecodiversity Lifeform.
Absolutely, I would be delighted to read more about the EarthSelf and the 4 basic principles about Life. Please provide a link or post them for us to see.