Jason, this is one of your best and most important articles yet. This is critical information, and yet very few people (including many scientists) seem to be blissfully unaware of it. And this is why I say that any hope of ever colonizing another planet is completely dashed. If the planet is dead, it's because it cannot support life, and there would be good reasons for that which we couldn't fix. If there's life, it will be mostly microbial, and if it's DNA-based (which is likely), the newly arrived humans will be like a special treat. We would have zero resistance and wouldn't last a week. It's fun to write about or make movies about visiting other planets in science fiction, but it's highly unlikely it could never happen in reality. Anyway, I shared your piece on Facebook.
Thank you very much, Jim. And I'm in total agreement about the likelihood of off-planet travel. It's such a a delusional idea and worse, a destructive waste of time and money. The stories we tell of life in space have always been analogies or fantasies about another way to live here anyway. Some of us forget that they're not predictions.
As we only have one sample of life in the universe, there's no basis to say that alien life will be based on DNA. We simply don't know with a sample of one. It's also questionable that alien life would consider us a walking buffet. We may well be of no interest or even toxic to it.
In spite of Elon Musk's assertions, I don't think we have the technology to establish a colony on another planet yet. No one has even figured out a way to keep the Martian dust out of seals and such under long periods of use.
Well, you may be right. Certainly, drawing conclusions with n=1 is risky. Nonetheless, given the robustness of DNA and the possibility that it has arisen on this planet, independently, more than once, I think the odds are pretty good that other life in the galaxy is DNA-based. If we ever get definitive proof of life from Mars and find that it is DNA-based, we'll have pretty strong evidence for that. Hope I live to see that. As far as Musk's plan to colonize Mars, it would not be much different than colonizing the moon. People would have to live underground most of the time. Time on the surface would be limited by the intense radiation, and any attempt yo terraform Mars is doomed to failure. Mars does not have a strong magnetic field, so radiation will always be a problem. We might be able to generate a thick atmosphere over a long period of time, but it would have to be a constant effort, because without a magnetic field to divert the solar wind, it will all just be blown into space, just like the original atmosphere.
Such a great piece, Jason, thank you so much. My mind is blown! It makes me wonder about systems theory and emergence and the role that this hidden world will play - mostly beyond our comprehension but definitely significant.
Jason, I’m no expert but the idea that “emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole.“ It seems like the unseen glue of life you have described could be a really big part of how and why that is a thing!
Thanks for this. At a glance, it seems that microbes (bacteria, especially) have been the primary drivers of the kind of emergence you describe here. The world as we see it is a function of the foundation they provided and still maintain. Our tiny gods...
“As the Anthropocene unfolds . . .” Hold on! We have upset the balance. We must restore systems, stop the killing of microbes, take the Anthro out of the “cene.”
Putting quick release fertilizer on the lawn, burns microbes and inhabits the plants to put down roots to open the dirt to life to become soil. Golf courses do not fertilize fairways because they see it as a waste of money. These more natural lawns can draw down carbon dioxide to build an inch of soil in a year with microbes doing much of the work. Working w microbes and soils more sponges are created retaining more water. Cooling and slowing rainwater will restore ecosystems, cool microclimates, reduce hot water warming sea surfaces and reduce sea level rise by as much as 25%. Let’s minimize the use of harsh herbicides especially glyphosates in Roundup to restore microbes and plant species diversity. the more robust and diverse communities the better. Time to restore the balance and get back to where we once belonged.
In the Pleistocene the mega-fauna pooped everywhere enriching the floral provinces; the decline of micro-biomes is directly proportional to the decline of poop. Also, what roles are micro-plastics playing in the contempory micro-biome?
Right, Brent. The role of microplastics - in the category the Planetary Boundaries folks call Novel Entities, along with our other chemical inventions - will be extraordinary. I should have mentioned it, but the topic was a bit large as it was... And thanks for the reminder that we've been changing things for a long time. That's the "PaleoAnthropocene" in that graphic I included.
So many things to consider here. The microbial bosses will survive us and our pathetic attempts to surplant them. They are exceedingly tough in ways we can't be. I'd even wager they could survive our sun going nova. But as supremely adaptable as we may be, we may not survive us, nor will uncounted species. A romantic vision is that the dinosaurs and mammals and all the macro scale life forms are the microbes attempts to get themselves more widely distributed, i.e. off the planet If we humans, before we're gone, can transport our creators to other worlds, then we will have fulfilled our intended role.
Thanks, Michael. So much, yes, and I barely scratched the topic. Re the romantic vision, I've long had fun with the idea that the weird obsession some of us have for off-planet travel is the result of a behavior modifying microbe, like toxoplasma gondii.
Spare me the lunatic capitalism talk. We’re killing microbes by riding rough-shod, exploiting resources wastefully. We need to touch the world more gently with less pollutants. The world has 2800 tons of soil brimming with microbes. A 2% increase in healthy soils would 100 billion tons of carbohydrates and reduce the atmospheric burden of 420 ppm carbon to 350 ppm. With more soil microbes we can reverse climate change.
Poop & Carcasses: The Story of the Pleistocene Carbon Cycle
In the Pleistocene fauna and mega-fauna ran riot across the plantscape, fructifying the biome and microbiome with poop and predation-generated carcasses. The only way to save the terrestrial biosphere is to replace all the cement and asphalt with plants, fauna and mega-fauna to refructify the biomes and microbiomes. All other narratives are Pleistocene Mega-Fauna Poop Denialism.
Jason, this is one of your best and most important articles yet. This is critical information, and yet very few people (including many scientists) seem to be blissfully unaware of it. And this is why I say that any hope of ever colonizing another planet is completely dashed. If the planet is dead, it's because it cannot support life, and there would be good reasons for that which we couldn't fix. If there's life, it will be mostly microbial, and if it's DNA-based (which is likely), the newly arrived humans will be like a special treat. We would have zero resistance and wouldn't last a week. It's fun to write about or make movies about visiting other planets in science fiction, but it's highly unlikely it could never happen in reality. Anyway, I shared your piece on Facebook.
Thank you very much, Jim. And I'm in total agreement about the likelihood of off-planet travel. It's such a a delusional idea and worse, a destructive waste of time and money. The stories we tell of life in space have always been analogies or fantasies about another way to live here anyway. Some of us forget that they're not predictions.
As we only have one sample of life in the universe, there's no basis to say that alien life will be based on DNA. We simply don't know with a sample of one. It's also questionable that alien life would consider us a walking buffet. We may well be of no interest or even toxic to it.
In spite of Elon Musk's assertions, I don't think we have the technology to establish a colony on another planet yet. No one has even figured out a way to keep the Martian dust out of seals and such under long periods of use.
Well, you may be right. Certainly, drawing conclusions with n=1 is risky. Nonetheless, given the robustness of DNA and the possibility that it has arisen on this planet, independently, more than once, I think the odds are pretty good that other life in the galaxy is DNA-based. If we ever get definitive proof of life from Mars and find that it is DNA-based, we'll have pretty strong evidence for that. Hope I live to see that. As far as Musk's plan to colonize Mars, it would not be much different than colonizing the moon. People would have to live underground most of the time. Time on the surface would be limited by the intense radiation, and any attempt yo terraform Mars is doomed to failure. Mars does not have a strong magnetic field, so radiation will always be a problem. We might be able to generate a thick atmosphere over a long period of time, but it would have to be a constant effort, because without a magnetic field to divert the solar wind, it will all just be blown into space, just like the original atmosphere.
Another keeper — I am so grateful for it.
!!>> “The multitudes contain multitudes.” <<!!
Such a great piece, Jason, thank you so much. My mind is blown! It makes me wonder about systems theory and emergence and the role that this hidden world will play - mostly beyond our comprehension but definitely significant.
Thank you, Gillian. Now I need to look up systems theory and emergence to better understand your thoughts here...
Jason, I’m no expert but the idea that “emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole.“ It seems like the unseen glue of life you have described could be a really big part of how and why that is a thing!
Thanks for this. At a glance, it seems that microbes (bacteria, especially) have been the primary drivers of the kind of emergence you describe here. The world as we see it is a function of the foundation they provided and still maintain. Our tiny gods...
“As the Anthropocene unfolds . . .” Hold on! We have upset the balance. We must restore systems, stop the killing of microbes, take the Anthro out of the “cene.”
Putting quick release fertilizer on the lawn, burns microbes and inhabits the plants to put down roots to open the dirt to life to become soil. Golf courses do not fertilize fairways because they see it as a waste of money. These more natural lawns can draw down carbon dioxide to build an inch of soil in a year with microbes doing much of the work. Working w microbes and soils more sponges are created retaining more water. Cooling and slowing rainwater will restore ecosystems, cool microclimates, reduce hot water warming sea surfaces and reduce sea level rise by as much as 25%. Let’s minimize the use of harsh herbicides especially glyphosates in Roundup to restore microbes and plant species diversity. the more robust and diverse communities the better. Time to restore the balance and get back to where we once belonged.
In the Pleistocene the mega-fauna pooped everywhere enriching the floral provinces; the decline of micro-biomes is directly proportional to the decline of poop. Also, what roles are micro-plastics playing in the contempory micro-biome?
Right, Brent. The role of microplastics - in the category the Planetary Boundaries folks call Novel Entities, along with our other chemical inventions - will be extraordinary. I should have mentioned it, but the topic was a bit large as it was... And thanks for the reminder that we've been changing things for a long time. That's the "PaleoAnthropocene" in that graphic I included.
Just stopping by to say thank you for this.
Thanks, Natalie. Stop by anytime.
So many things to consider here. The microbial bosses will survive us and our pathetic attempts to surplant them. They are exceedingly tough in ways we can't be. I'd even wager they could survive our sun going nova. But as supremely adaptable as we may be, we may not survive us, nor will uncounted species. A romantic vision is that the dinosaurs and mammals and all the macro scale life forms are the microbes attempts to get themselves more widely distributed, i.e. off the planet If we humans, before we're gone, can transport our creators to other worlds, then we will have fulfilled our intended role.
As always, depopulate/rewild.
Thanks, Michael. So much, yes, and I barely scratched the topic. Re the romantic vision, I've long had fun with the idea that the weird obsession some of us have for off-planet travel is the result of a behavior modifying microbe, like toxoplasma gondii.
Not an impossibility by any means!
Amazing piece Jason - thank you.
Very kind of you, Annabelle. Thanks.
2800 billion tons of soil worldwide.
Spare me the lunatic capitalism talk. We’re killing microbes by riding rough-shod, exploiting resources wastefully. We need to touch the world more gently with less pollutants. The world has 2800 tons of soil brimming with microbes. A 2% increase in healthy soils would 100 billion tons of carbohydrates and reduce the atmospheric burden of 420 ppm carbon to 350 ppm. With more soil microbes we can reverse climate change.
Poop & Carcasses: The Story of the Pleistocene Carbon Cycle
In the Pleistocene fauna and mega-fauna ran riot across the plantscape, fructifying the biome and microbiome with poop and predation-generated carcasses. The only way to save the terrestrial biosphere is to replace all the cement and asphalt with plants, fauna and mega-fauna to refructify the biomes and microbiomes. All other narratives are Pleistocene Mega-Fauna Poop Denialism.