Otley College Sustainable Environments course 24 & 25 October '98
part 1) Chaos Theory in Principle and Practice with Claire Appelby
The "chaos" in chaos theory is order--not simply order, but the very ESSENCE
of order.
It is true that chaos theory dictates that minor changes can cause huge fluctuations (the
"butterfly flapping its wings causing a hurricane on the other side of the
world" effect). But one of the central concepts of chaos theory is that while it is
impossible to exactly predict the state of a system, it is generally quite possible, even
easy, to model the overall behaviour of a system.
The outcome seems chaotic because we normally cannot know the starting state of a
system, eg the weather, with sufficient accuracy to predict what will happen. Also
understanding a whole system is much more difficult than understanding a single item in
isolation; which is one reason why "traditional" science has focused on
reductionism.
part 2) GAIA with Peter Horton
GAIA is a scientific theory proposed by James Lovelock to explain the relationship of
life and the earth as one system with its own dynamics that evolve over time.
Peter's approach to explaining this was experiential in order to challenge our existing
"human-centric" world views, with a GAIA view. To do this he put his theatrical
background to good effect.
So what is the GAIA view? It is a chaotic system which describes how life, from the
earliest bacteria 3,500,000,000 years ago, affects its environment in such a way as to
sustain life.
James Lovelock came to this theory while researching if there could be life on Mars for
NASA. The Martian atmosphere is in a stable chemical equilibrium, which, he argued,
indicated that there was no life. Earth's atmosphere, by contrast, is in a dynamic
equilibrium; for example the Oxygen has not all combined with the earth's minerals, like
rust (one possible reason why Mars is red), but has stayed at a constant percentage of the
atmosphere.
To keep this dynamic equilibrium the GAIA theory argues that positive and negative
feedback effects within living organisms and the Earth's systems create a tightly coupled
self-organising and self-sustaining environment.
Like the theory that the earth goes around the sun, and it is not the centre of the
universe; the GAIA theory that man is not the keeper of the Earth's environment, both
doesn't really matter what we think or do, yet may have a profound influence on how we as
humans relate to the world (no longer "our" world). Both Claire and Peter drew
parallels between the GAIA philosophy and Taoist writings.
Lovelock in "Gaia: the Practical Science of Planetary Medicine" said
"How can we revere the living world of we can no longer hear the bird song through
the noise of traffic, or smell the sweetness of fresh air?"
We finished the weekend by quietly standing outside as it grew dark, and it was
difficult to leave.
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