the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 11 Apr 2025
The Gaia hypothesis revisited: Introducing an Organic Theory of Gaia
Abstract. The Gaia hypothesis, which proposed Earth as a planetary superorganism, was dismissed due to perceived conflicts with natural selection and unclear mechanisms for its emergence. Here, we address these issues by developing the Organic Gaia Theory. This theory holds that the emergence, sustainability and evolution of Gaia as superorganism can be explained by three observable and interrelated hypotheses: 1) the tendency of dissipative systems to follow Thermodynamic Maximization Principles by evolving toward structures of higher material and energy use until some local limit is reached; 2) the tendency of complex dissipative systems to organize in Prigogine trinomials, i.e. to become functional parts of a larger structure with the emerging capacities to coordinate its functional parts and to adapt its environment to its benefit; and 3) the tendency of expansive and reproductive systems to overcome local limits to their growth and complexity through the formation of trinomials of Prigogine trinomials through the process of symbiotic cooperation and organic symbiogenesis. The interplay of these processes make the emergence of a super-organism at planetary scale (Gaia) not only possible but probable. Aligning Gaia with thermodynamic and biological principles the theory implies a potential paradigm shift in biological and Earth system sciences.
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Status: open (until 23 May 2025)
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CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-1532', Scott Gilbert, 16 Apr 2025
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Thank you, Carlos, for sending me the link to your paper. I think you are perfectly correct that (1) the dissipative framework of the Second Law of Thermodynamics makes a metabolic Gaia highly probable, and (2) that the holobiont is an excellent metaphor/exemplar for such a metabolic Gaia. I don't know if Prigogine's Trinomials need to be invoked, as I suspect that autotrophic metabolism will work. It's great that you come to these conclusions from Earth Science Studies. I've made similar claims for a thermodynamic metabolic Gaia coming from the biological side of the frame. Here, I use "sympoiesis" (qua Haraway) rather than "symbiogenesis" (qua Margulis), since my emphasis has been on how symbionts get together to effect development. You can find my analyses in A Book of the Body Politic edited by Bruno Latour, Simon Schaffer, and Pasquale Gagliardi (https://www.cini.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/BODY-POLITICS-complete-Online.pdf), and in an article that is presently in online preprint stage (< https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202309.1072/v1>). In this latter essay, I try to link the holobiont and Gaia to Hans Jonas' notions of metabolism. It attempts to show that if one understands that (1) organisms are holobionts that are constructed through symbiotic interactions (sympoiesis) and (2) that metabolism acts to form cells, organisms, and ecosystems through the same thermodynamic principles, then (3) Gaia becomes a logical biological outcome. In fact, Gaia can be modeled as a holobiont organism that is the integration of its numerous enmeshed metabolic systems. (The ideas in this paper have been revised, expanded, and submitted as part of a book manuscript). You might find some interesting confirmations of your ideas in these papers. I think that our ideas, coming from different perspectives, mutually support each other.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1532-CC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Carlos de Castro, 20 Apr 2025
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Thanks, Scott.
Yes, the more processual and dynamic concept of sympoiesis could be useful to our discussion. We believe that the generalization we are trying to make about symbiogenesis is also more dynamic than the one Margulis drew. In fact, we understand the formation of structures as a scale where dichotomies become blurred. Thus, in our article (see lines 182 to 226 of the preprint) we observe that it is the degree of irreversibility (mutual dependence) that allows us to move from individual to holobiont (sensu Margulis) to organism. We recognize, like you, that interactions can also be "external" (not necessarily endosymbiotic). Especially if Gaia is admitted, the difference between, for example, symbiotic bacteria that metabolize vitamin B within our body, and other Gaia “cell” external to our body that synthesize vitamin C, which "we" then ingest, rather than absolute, is one of degree.
We admit that the degree of symbiotic integration and irreversibility is very high in what traditional biology has identified as organism-individual and has classified since Linnaeus, but we extend it through ecological metabolisms (sensu your sympoiesis?) to the largest scale. In our article, we aim to lay out the main hypotheses and how their interactions give rise to an organic and evolving Gaia. We certainly use the framework of the laws of thermodynamics, as do other authors you also cite in your work. However, we take two further steps:
First, as mentioned in Appendix A, the second law says nothing about whether or not there is a tendency to increase the rate or speed of entropy creation (the latter we assume and believe to be observable). Hence, we appeal to the TMaxPs as a reasonable hypothesis to apply precisely to systems such as those studied by biology or ecology. Nevertheless, we view thermodynamics and the TMaxPs as a facilitating rather than a directing force in the evolutionary processes of biology.
This is why, in a second step, we recur to Prigogine's trinomial (an analogous paradigm (Kauffmann, Maturana and Varela,...) would also be possible) that introduces two types of downward causation that we have called ‘organization/orchestration’ and ‘technique’. We believe this step to be important because it opens the door to biology as a discipline that cannot ultimately be reduced to (quantum) physics. The reason for this irreducibility lies in the properties that living beings in particular have, namely their capacity for expansion, which makes them collide with local limits or constraints, and which they are capable of breaking. This makes continuous evolution of life possible by the closure and the coupling of Prigogine trinomials through the process of generalized symbiogenesis (or sympoiesis?), which already belongs entirely to the biological-ecological realm and which we no longer observe in complex dissipative physical systems.Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1532-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Carlos de Castro, 20 Apr 2025
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