Man’s Role in Nature

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  • Gowan John A.

Abstract

Man’s role in nature seems to divide naturally in two parts: 1) the dispersal of Earth-Life into the galaxy; 2) the enhancement and development of the self-awareness and creativity of the Cosmos. Humanity is, in the first instance, the practical, scientific tool of Gaia, or Mother Earth, evolved as her reproductive agent; and in the second instance, humanity is the perceptual or intelectual tool of the Cosmos, evolved to carry the intelligence and self-awareness of the Cosmos, the agent by which the Cosmos explores, understands, and appreciates itself, including exploring new modes of creativity. Our native spiritual awareness appears to be our intuitive recognition of this cosmic connection. The first role is Earth-oriented, manifesting socially as Science; the second role is Universe-oriented, manifesting socially as Art and Religion, in all their forms. It should be obvious that the first role is in no way intrinsically at odds with the second.

Section 12: Man’s Role in Nature 
John A. Gowan 
(revised June, 2005)
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Papers:
The Information Pathway
The Human Connection
Teilhard de Chardin – Prophet of the Information Age


Introduction

The visionary view of the Earth as a self-interested and self-regulating super-organism, “Gaia”, put forward by the English scientist J. E. Lovelock (1979), allows us a new and elevated perspective of man’s role in Nature. Humanity is the seed of Gaia, the dispersal agent, the means by which Gaia will reproduce and colonize the galaxy with her life forms. Like any other organism, Gaia has a life cycle, controlled on the planetary level by the Sun and influenced by the presence of the other planets, comets, asteroids, meteorites, and our Moon. During this life cycle, like any other organism, Gaia will seek to reproduce herself when she has achieved maturity. That time has now come for Gaia; Gaia has entered her reproductive phase of life and we are her reproductive agents. This is the reason for the great excitement and anticipation surrounding the appearance of Man in Nature.

Noah’s Ark

In this view we are not the masters of the Earth; we are the specialized reproductive cells and servants of a planetary super-organism, evolved for a specific purpose and role. We are the puppets of Gaia’s reproductive designs, evolved in our social billions for a single reproductive mission: to create the technological structure which will carry Gaian life to other stellar systems, populate the Galaxy, and so insure the survival of Gaia despite the bombardment of asteroids and comets, and even despite the eventual death of the Sun and Earth. The story of Noah’s ark is not only a legend of the past, but a vision of the future, encompassing the space ships of Earth as they carry the life forms of Gaia across the ocean of space to new planets and stellar systems.

Our large brains, our clever hands, our social ways, our multitudes, all are necessary to the task. Our huge populations are required not only to provide the manpower and gather the resources for the work, but also to produce the very rare geniuses who will discover how it can be done, who will solve the daunting technical problems of interplanetary and interstellar travel. Earth’s huge reserves of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear ores are the necessary stores for the great reproductive effort, waiting for the species that understands how to use them to produce rockets and rocket fuel, launching the space program.

Biologically, humanity has one central evolutionary task: to colonize the galaxy. To this end the resources of the Earth should be preserved and husbanded; the Earth should be protected rather than raped, so it can continue to provide the resources to sustain this great reproductive effort. Space travel is the common evolutionary goal of humanity, and our species should awake to this realization and rally to this shared purpose.

We do not want Gaia’s reproductive effort to be like that of the salmon, a single burst of seed after which the organism dies; rather it should be like the tree, which produces seeds year after year throughout a long and vigorous life. This is a shared vision which our species can embrace and celebrate in unison, the vision of humanity transforming itself into a space-faring galactic presence and explorer. It can save us and our planet from our destructive internal strife and environmental devastation by lifting our vision to a higher common purpose which involves our planet’s health, and requires a universal cooperative effort with benefits for all. This is why science and humanity is important and this is a message which science, not just science fiction, should be sending to young people.

Finally, we are probably not the only species in this galaxy that hopes to achieve planetary colonization and galactic dispersal. As always, time is of the essence. Competition is always with us; even the galaxy is a finite resource. If we wish our species to achieve the distinction of galactic citizen and explorer, we need to set our house in order and with all deliberate speed, answer the call of a new frontier and our evolutionary destiny. See: “The Information Pathway” (table).

Our Cosmic Connection

Biology and living systems represent the information pathway through which the Universe evolves its own capacity to experience itself (see: ““The Information Pathway” (text)). All forms of life represent attempts by the Cosmos to apprehend itself. On earth, this self-inherited cosmic curiosity culminates in humanity – we are the perceptual and intellectual agents of a universe which wants to look at and understand itself, and to explore the limits of its capacity for creativity. Human creativity is a fractal iteration of cosmic creativity; indeed, we have been created in the image and likeness of God. Humanity’s role in the cosmic context is therefore to experience life joyfully, understand the universe, appreciate its beauty, respect other forms of life (including each other), and develop our own creativity. Religion in this view is recognized as a form of self-worship, the Cosmos paying homage to itself, humanity (the only animal with religion) finally able to fully cognize our connection to the Universe, expressing awe and wonder at its majesty, size, power, and beauty (See: “A Rationale for Love in the Universe”). In this regard, we must recognize that many forms of nature worship are quite appropriate spiritual exercises, and that Art and Science are also forms of religious practice. (See: “The Human Connection”.)

Links:

  1. Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics: Part 2
  2. Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics: Part I
  3. The Conversion of Space to Time by Gravity
  4. The “Tetrahedron Model” vs the “Standard Model” of Physics: A Comparison
  5. Postscript to: Spiritual and Scientific Principles of the Cosmic Tetrahedron Model
  6. Spiritual and Scientific Principles of the “Tetrahedron Model”
  7. A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory – Part 4 (General Systems Discussion)
  8. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 3 of 3
  9. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory (a “Theory of Everything”) – Part 2
  10. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 2 of 3
  11. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 2
  12. The Particle Table
  13. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory (Part 1 of 3)
  14. An Introduction to the Papers (Unified Field Theory)
  15. Proton Decay and the “Heat Death” of the Cosmos
  16. Proton Decay and the “Heat Death” of the Cosmos
  17. The Origin of Matter and Information
  18. Introduction to the Higgs Boson Papers
  19. Higgs Table: Unified Force Eras of the “Big Bang”
  20. The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs: Parts II -IV
  21. The Higgs Boson vs the Spacetime Metric
  22. The Weak Force: Identity or Number Charge
  23. Introduction to The Weak Force
  24. A Description of Gravitation
  25. Introduction to Gravitation
  26. Introduction to The Weak Force
  27. The Weak Force: Identity or Number Charge
  28. A Spacetime map of the Universe: Implications for Cosmology
  29. Negentropic Information
  30. Synopsis of the ‘Tetrahedron Model’
  31. Time and Entropy
  32. Noether`s Theorem and Einstein’s “Interval”
  33. The Intrinsic Motions of Matter
  34. Light and Matter – a Synopsis
  35. A Short Course in the Unified Field Theory
  36. The Information Pathway
  37. Sect. VI: Introduction to Information
  38. Introduction to Fractals
  39. Introduction to General Systems, Complex Systems
  40. A Rationale for Gravitation
  41. About Gravity
  42. Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics: Part 2
  43. A Description of Gravitation
  44. Spatial vs Temporal Entropy
  45. Introduction to Entropy
  46. The Human Connection
  47. Global-Local Gauge Symmetries and the “Tetrahedron Model” Part I: Postscript
  48. Global and Local Gauge Symmetry in the “Tetrahedron Model”: Part I
  49. Global and Local Gauge Symmetries: Part IV
  50. Global and Local Gauge Symmetries: Part V
  51. Global-Local Gauge Symmetry: Part III: The Weak Force
  52. Global and Local Gauge Symmetries: Part II (Gravitation, Section A)
  53. Global and Local Gauge Symmetry: Part II (Gravitation, Section B)
  54. The Origin of Matter and Information
  55. Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics: Part I
  56. The Conversion of Space to Time
  57. The Short-Range or “Particle” Forces
  58. The Time Train
  59. Extending Einstein’s Equivalence Principle: Symmetry Conservation
  60. Introduction to Gravitation
  61. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part I
  62. The Higgs Boson vs the Spacetime Metric
  63. de Broglie Matter Waves and the Evolution of Consciousness
  64. Nature’s Fractal Pathway
  65. Teilhard de Chardin – Prophet of the Information Age
  66. The Double Conservation Role of Gravity
  67. The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs: Parts II -IV
  68. Higgs Table: Unified Force Eras of the “Big Bang”
  69. The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs
  70. Introduction to the Higgs Boson Papers
  71. The Strong Force: Two Expressions
  72. Table of Forces and Energy States
  73. The Origin of Space and Time
  74. “Inflation” and the “Big Crunch”
  75. The “W” Intermediate Vector Boson and the Weak Force Mechanism
  76. The Weak Force Mechanism and the “W” IVB (Intermediate Vector Boson):
  77. Physical Elements of the “Spacetime Map”
  78. The Traveling Twins Paradox
  79. Currents of Entropy and Symmetry
  80. The Half-Life of Proton Decay
  81. Spiritual and Scientific Principles of the “Tetrahedron Model”
  82. An Introduction to the Papers (Unified Field Theory)
  83. The “Spacetime Map” as a Model of Juan Maldacena’s 5-Dimensional Holographic Universe
  84. The “Tetrahedron Model” in the Context of a Complete Conservation Cycle
  85. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 3 (Summary)
  86. Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 2
  87. General Systems “Hourglass” or “Grail” Diagrams
  88. PARTICLE TABLE
  89. The “Tetrahedron Model” vs the “Standard Model” of Physics: A Comparison
  90. “Dark Energy”: Does Light Create a Gravitational Field?
  91. Human Life-Span Development and General Systems Models
  92. Man’s Role in Nature
  93. Origin of Life: Newton, Darwin, and the Abundance of Life in the Universe

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