Hi Jason,. I loved your essay and how deeply rooted Life is here on our planet, but it occurred to me that there are a few events that could end all life on this planet- even if this planet were melted completely- Life would quickly come back and for exactly the same reason it originally appeared here in the first place. This might be because not only does this Universe of ours tolerate life, but Life is woven into the fabric of the universe itself. Something to contemplate, and running counter to the prevailing view.
Hi Michael, I've been away a few days. My apologies for the delay. A brief story in response: Stephen Jay Gould spoke at my college graduation, and gave a wonderful speech explaining how through his years of paleontology he'd learned that the environmentalist notion of "saving the Earth" failed to describe the truth of the matter. Life on Earth will be fine, he said, even if in our nuclear enthusiasm we reduce it to organic chemistry. It will return in some other complex splendor. What we need to do, he said, is save it for ourselves and for the sake of the lives with whom we share it. I like your idea here that life is rare but woven into things. Even as a function of chance, that's nice to ponder.
Beautiful writing. This essay is rewarding at many levels. Getting an essay across the finish line can be so difficult. Some write themselves in great looping swoops of inspiration, rather like a swift. Others are ground pounders fighting their way through thickets.
Be careful with this storm coming, it's the gift of climate change and such storms may become the norm for you in the East, just like giga-fires and drought seem to be our coming new normal out here in the west. Microbes can weather all of this as you demonstrate, and their roots are deep. We tetrapods are the exotic outgrowths of that base and exposed to the climate winds that blow. So we rise and fall like that famous haiku says, yes we rise and fall.
"Haru no umi hinemosu notari notari kana". --Buson
Ebb and flow, indeed. Thank you, Michael.
Hi Jason,. I loved your essay and how deeply rooted Life is here on our planet, but it occurred to me that there are a few events that could end all life on this planet- even if this planet were melted completely- Life would quickly come back and for exactly the same reason it originally appeared here in the first place. This might be because not only does this Universe of ours tolerate life, but Life is woven into the fabric of the universe itself. Something to contemplate, and running counter to the prevailing view.
Hi Michael, I've been away a few days. My apologies for the delay. A brief story in response: Stephen Jay Gould spoke at my college graduation, and gave a wonderful speech explaining how through his years of paleontology he'd learned that the environmentalist notion of "saving the Earth" failed to describe the truth of the matter. Life on Earth will be fine, he said, even if in our nuclear enthusiasm we reduce it to organic chemistry. It will return in some other complex splendor. What we need to do, he said, is save it for ourselves and for the sake of the lives with whom we share it. I like your idea here that life is rare but woven into things. Even as a function of chance, that's nice to ponder.
Beautiful writing. This essay is rewarding at many levels. Getting an essay across the finish line can be so difficult. Some write themselves in great looping swoops of inspiration, rather like a swift. Others are ground pounders fighting their way through thickets.
Be careful with this storm coming, it's the gift of climate change and such storms may become the norm for you in the East, just like giga-fires and drought seem to be our coming new normal out here in the west. Microbes can weather all of this as you demonstrate, and their roots are deep. We tetrapods are the exotic outgrowths of that base and exposed to the climate winds that blow. So we rise and fall like that famous haiku says, yes we rise and fall.