Planets: too much of a good thing
I was thinking this morning about timescales and feedback, and how they relate to life on a planet. It struck me that although we're well-suited to life on this world, biologically, our intelligence may turn out to be a hinderance, because of our environment. Let me take a step back first, before waxing lyric on that last point.
We're clearly fit for our environment. We have prospered as a species, brought wealth and safety to billions, and in doing so have eradicated a myriad of other species and set in train events that may irreparably damage our biosphere for millenia to come.
How did this come to be? Was it simply through greed and ideology?
I suggest that it was not.
I suggest that it was an inevitable outcome of the scale of our living space - the dry landmass of the Earth, and the terribly long timescales associated with its climate. Simply put, the characteristic time constants of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere are far longer than those associated with human activity. We can invent whole new technologies in a matter of years and mobilize millions of people to work at new tasks in mere months. The effects of these changes may take decades to become detectable, and a century may pass before it becomes clear that the changes are undesirable for us and other biota.
The list of such developments is long (DDT, leaded petrol, CFCs, etc.) and limited only by how despondent one wishes to be - perhaps coming down from the trees really was a bad idea.
So should we just put a paper bag over our heads and wait for the end?
No. I think that we can change. But it takes effort.
Simply, our world is too cosy - we can make poor choices right now and not live to see their outcome. Perhaps we need to learn how to live in a small ecosystem with tightly-coupled feedback loops, where one person's actions impact their fellow crew immediately.
One cannot learn to drive if the road is so forgiving that you can take your hands off the wheel for a week or two. And one doesn't train a dog by offering treats and scoldings a month after the event.
Earth was a great place to grow up in, but as a host world it was simply too accommodating. We've outgrown the cradle, and need some harsh lessons - and so I come back to this blog's title.
We need to leave, in order to learn how to live.
