4 ms·
There's no science that says any part of the Earth-human system "constantly moves to optimality". Like, literally any part. It's an out-of-control rollercoaster
by theoh 9y ago
There's no science that says any part of the Earth-human system "constantly moves to optimality". Like, literally any part. It's an out-of-control rollercoaster that we may or may not be able to steward to our liking. "optimality" is a human construct.
- drdeca 9y agoI think steward/stewardship was a good choice of word on your part there
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nnfy 9y agoI agree, and would extend that to the earth system in general. The universe does not care for good, bad, optimal, or suboptimal; the universe simply is.
- unityByFreedom 9y agoDarwin might disagree. Perhaps you can say evolution is accidental, without intention. Quite a happy accident in my opinion.
- Eerie 9y agoA billion years of living things eating each other. Quite happy, indeed.
- IanCal 9y agoEvolution does not necessarily move towards optimal systems, by any definition. It may find local optima, but the process has no guarantees it's moving towards a global optimum.
- splawn 9y agoI am guessing your downvoters have never heard of mass extinction events. EDIT: Here.... let me google up an example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxygenation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxygenation_Event
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- dredmorbius 9y agoHow would you define "optimality"? Consider: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_principle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_principle
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- godzilla82 9y agoOptimal for whom? May be it does move to optimality, but not for humans, so human science does not find it.