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"Gaia hypothesis"
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Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systems
Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systemsgives earth scientists the essential skills for translating chemical and physical systems into mathematical and computational models that provide enhanced insight into Earth's processes. Using a step-by-step method, the book identifies the important geological variables of physical-chemical geoscience problems and describes the mechanisms that control these variables.
This book is directed toward upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and professionals who want to learn how to abstract complex systems into sets of dynamic equations. It shows students how to recognize domains of interest and key factors, and how to explain assumptions in formal terms. The book reveals what data best tests ideas of how nature works, and cautions against inadequate transport laws, unconstrained coefficients, and unfalsifiable models. Various examples of processes and systems, and ample illustrations, are provided. Students using this text should be familiar with the principles of physics, chemistry, and geology, and have taken a year of differential and integral calculus.
Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systemshelps earth scientists develop a philosophical framework and strong foundations for conceptualizing complex geologic systems.
Step-by-step lessons for representing complex Earth systems as dynamical modelsExplains geologic processes in terms of fundamental laws of physics and chemistryNumerical solutions to differential equations through the finite difference techniqueA philosophical approach to quantitative problem-solvingVarious examples of processes and systems, including the evolution of sandy coastlines, the global carbon cycle, and much moreProfessors: A supplementary Instructor's Manual is available for this book. It is restricted to teachers using the text in courses. For information on how to obtain a copy, refer to: http://press.princeton.edu/class_use/solutions.html
eBook
Gaia 2.0
Could humans add some level of self-awareness to Earth's self-regulation? According to Lovelock and Margulis's Gaia hypothesis, living things are part of a planetary-scale self-regulating system that has maintained habitable conditions for the past 3.5 billion years ( 1 , 2 ). Gaia has operated without foresight or planning on the part of organisms, but the evolution of humans and their technology are changing that. Earth has now entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene ( 3 ), and humans are beginning to become aware of the global consequences of their actions. As a result, deliberate self-regulation—from personal action to global geoengineering schemes—is either happening or imminently possible. Making such conscious choices to operate within Gaia constitutes a fundamental new state of Gaia, which we call Gaia 2.0. By emphasizing the agency of life-forms and their ability to set goals, Gaia 2.0 may be an effective framework for fostering global sustainability.
Journal Article
Gaian Systems
A groundbreaking look at Gaia theory's intersections
with neocybernetic systems theory
Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and
varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric
chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis. Gaian
Systems is a pioneering exploration of the dynamic and complex
evolution of Gaia's many variants, with special attention to
Margulis's foundational role in these developments.
Bruce Clarke assesses the different dialects of systems theory
brought to bear on Gaia discourse. Focusing in particular on
Margulis's work-including multiple pieces of her unpublished Gaia
correspondence-he shows how her research and that of Lovelock was
concurrent and conceptually parallel with the new discourse of
self-referential systems that emerged within neocybernetic systems
theory. The recent Gaia writings of Donna Haraway, Isabelle
Stengers, and Bruno Latour contest its cybernetic status. Clarke
engages Latour on the issue of Gaia's systems description and
extends his own systems-theoretical synthesis under what he terms
\"metabiotic Gaia.\" This study illuminates current issues in
neighboring theoretical conversations-from biopolitics and the
immunitary paradigm to NASA astrobiology and the Anthropocene.
Along the way, he points to science fiction as a vehicle of Gaian
thought.
Delving into many issues not previously treated in accounts of
Gaia, Gaian Systems describes the history of a theory that
has the potential to help us survive an environmental crisis of our
own making.
eBook
A Pricean Formalization of Gaia
The compatibility of the Gaia hypothesis with Darwinism is often challenged on the grounds that (1) to be potent, natural selection requires the existence of a population (whereas Gaia is a single entity), and (2) natural selection requires the entities forming a population to reproduce (whereas Gaia merely persists). However, using the Price equation, I argue, following others, that the Gaia hypothesis can fit squarely within a Darwinian framework because Gaia can exhibit adaptations if a process at a lower level (e.g., an ecosystem) can occur, and the notion of natural selection can be extended to accommodate evolution without reproduction.
Journal Article
