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3. The Puzzling Face of a Secular Gaia | Series 2012-2013 | College of Humanities and Social Science
In spite of its reputation, Gaia is not half science and half religion. It offers a much more enigmatic set of features that redistribute… -
Begins with comparison between Lovelock and Galileo.
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The view from nowhere – disembodiment.
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Gaia brought the earth to the centre and made us responsible.
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A ‘curse’ attached to the Gaia theory.
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Attempt to ‘lift it’.
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What people under what conditions through what agency.
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People of Gaia not the same as people of ‘nature’.
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Just because entity named after god does not necessarily act as one (and vice versa).
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Gaia: most secular entity.
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Gaia and Lovelock vs. Medicine and Pasteur.
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Comparisons in approach. Quoting from both now.
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At stake in both: war and peace.
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Performance, attribute and ‘trial’ before name.
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Politics follows from performance.
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Lovelock calling on similar actors to Pasteur: http://pic.twitter.com/oTq8gY3Y0c -
Every item in the scenery of ‘nature’ interrupted and rendered mobile by invisible characters.
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Inert agents magically awoken and now ‘fiercely’ alive!
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Earth processes vs. Fermentation. Everything made to move.
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Still riffing off his Pasteur work here…
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But is it reductionism or vitalism?
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That is reduction to a ‘sentient being’ or goddess (Gaia).
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Gaia as ‘providential engineer’. Need to explore.
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But no holistic nature to Gaia per se.
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Organisms curving environment to own needs. Manipulations changing its own world.
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Yes! Lovelockian-Latourian litanies!
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Waves of action that do not take notice of any categorisations (inside/outside, scale).
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Life as more messier than economists and neo-darwinists suppose.
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Oxygen as extended consequence of an event: http://pic.twitter.com/Y8XeIWxAzt -
No scalar relationship here. Only a historical result of connections between creatures.
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Space makes an entry. No empty container. Human Geographers rejoice. #blgiff
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Narratives rising or falling on strength and weakness of actors re: Pasteur’s microbes, Lovelock’s Gaia components.
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What to call this? History/Her-story. Distribution of agency. Gaia-story? Geo-story?
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Geostory of a planet -no harmony. A ‘contingent cascade’. No unity. Turmoil of geostory.
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And that’s it. #blgiff.
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More questions follow.
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Q: Can Gaia be extended to other planetary entities, instances?
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Yes, in short. Lovelock does necessarily identify earth and earth only as existence of Gaia.
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Meant to be does NOT.
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Q on interdisciplinarity in academia.
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Latour: Lovelock’s Gaia theory reverses the move to cosmic unity created by Copernicus and Galileo and invests earth with renewed uniqueness
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What as the successor? Geostory as a part of it. Human Geographers rejoice (pt. 2), I guess. #blgiff
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Geostory was put forward with a chuckle by Latour. Not meant egotistically!
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Another Q on possible disciplines in Latour’s hypothetical university. Would there be geopyschology?
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Yes, as long as there are connections.
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Q on scale, parts and wholes. Nice. Contingency and necessity. Fragility and solidity.
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Will again ‘storify’ so all tweets are together. Entertaining again from Latour. #blgiff
Sam Hind 