4 ms·

I sometimes wonder if the earth is trying to remove us, its own infection of sorts. If memory serves this was also the plot of some terrible M Night Shyamalan

I sometimes wonder if the earth is trying to remove us, its own infection of sorts. If memory serves this was also the plot of some terrible M Night Shyamalan movie.

7thaccount 7y ago
That's the plot of the anime "Blue Gender" I saw as a kid.
eloff 7y ago
Well of course not. The Gaia hypothesis is dead. Makes for good fiction though.
- mcnamaratw 7y ago
  I never believed it for a millisecond, but is it dead? What killed it?
  - eloff 7y ago
    The lack of any evidence or potential mechanism to the contrary. You can't prove a negative, but after a long enough while of no evidence, nobody will take it seriously anymore.
mindcrime 7y ago
Are you thinking of "The Happening?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film)
- sharkweek 7y ago
  Yes! I haven’t seen it for a while but I believe there’s a scene where Mark Wahlberg yells at a house plant
MadSudaca 7y ago
Nature has been trying to remove us since the very beginning. The process of preventing our removal is called surviving, we've been at it for as long as we can remember.
- duderific 7y ago
  We are part of nature, not separate from it. We can either choose to live in harmony with nature or try to overcome/dominate it. When we try to dominate, the non-human parts of nature will try to snap back, or we see unintended consequences. For example, cutting down trees for firewood or paper goods leading to environmental problems.
  - rightbyte 7y ago
    Nature doesn't "try" anything. It just is.
patall 7y ago
While you may be suggesting this more as a not-to-be-taken-entirely-serious, there probably is some truth to it: evolution. Accoriding to the red queen hypothesis, noone (species) can ever win evolution, you can only constantly adapt and select. There is no reason to believe that humans have overcome this. Now with billions of humans in existance, any small weakness all these humans have that another species can exploit will make it enourmously profitable for that species: A) there are many humans so independent where on the planet you arise you have a big chance to hit a human and B) there are many humans so its is easier to jump to another human once the one you have be thriving on becomes unprofitable.
- sharkweek 7y ago
  I’m getting a few downvotes but it’s honestly something I think about a lot. I believe we are incapable of understanding some things about how this (waves hands around in circles) all works. And one of those things could be how the earth might view us as it tries to survive as well. Probably a little wolololo for this HN post but still something I enjoy dwelling on.
  - mcnamaratw 7y ago
    I think you're crazy but downvotes seem unnecessary. I'm upvoting to cancel one out. And if only that dude would start making good movies again. He can do it, we know that.
    - sharkweek 7y ago
      My wife had somehow never had The Sixth Sense spoiled so we watched it recently. It obviously blew her away with the twist, but I also really enjoyed it again, the acting and story are all great.
  - jelliclesfarm 7y ago
    I upvoted you to compensate too. I hear you.
Koshkin 7y ago
Indeed: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143774-mother-nature-is-trying-to-kill-you https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143774-mother-nature-i...
- sharkweek 7y ago
  Oh fun I haven't heard of this book - worth a read?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
DoreenMichele 7y ago
This is probably the worst possible forum to admit to believing the earth could be sentient and could have a soul. But I don't think there is any goal to remove us. More like slap us upside the back of the head and say "Hey, stupid! Stop doing certain things already!"
carapace 7y ago
Mom loves us. (If she wanted to remove us we would be gone.) I've come to believe that humans are meant to serve primarily as gardeners. Once we consciously understand ecology we can enhance ecosystems (Permaculture and other forms of applied ecology) and increase the rate of growth of biomass. We may well also be destined to bring life to a lifeless Universe. (E.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project )

I sometimes wonder if the earth is trying to remove us, its own infection of sorts. If memory serves this was also the plot of some terrible M Night Shyamalan movie.

7thaccount 7y ago

That's the plot of the anime "Blue Gender" I saw as a kid.

eloff 7y ago

Well of course not. The Gaia hypothesis is dead. Makes for good fiction though.

mcnamaratw 7y ago
I never believed it for a millisecond, but is it dead? What killed it?
- eloff 7y ago
  The lack of any evidence or potential mechanism to the contrary. You can't prove a negative, but after a long enough while of no evidence, nobody will take it seriously anymore.

mindcrime 7y ago

Are you thinking of "The Happening?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film)

sharkweek 7y ago
Yes! I haven’t seen it for a while but I believe there’s a scene where Mark Wahlberg yells at a house plant

MadSudaca 7y ago

Nature has been trying to remove us since the very beginning. The process of preventing our removal is called surviving, we've been at it for as long as we can remember.

duderific 7y ago
We are part of nature, not separate from it. We can either choose to live in harmony with nature or try to overcome/dominate it. When we try to dominate, the non-human parts of nature will try to snap back, or we see unintended consequences. For example, cutting down trees for firewood or paper goods leading to environmental problems.
- rightbyte 7y ago
  Nature doesn't "try" anything. It just is.

patall 7y ago

While you may be suggesting this more as a not-to-be-taken-entirely-serious, there probably is some truth to it: evolution. Accoriding to the red queen hypothesis, noone (species) can ever win evolution, you can only constantly adapt and select. There is no reason to believe that humans have overcome this. Now with billions of humans in existance, any small weakness all these humans have that another species can exploit will make it enourmously profitable for that species: A) there are many humans so independent where on the planet you arise you have a big chance to hit a human and B) there are many humans so its is easier to jump to another human once the one you have be thriving on becomes unprofitable.

sharkweek 7y ago
I’m getting a few downvotes but it’s honestly something I think about a lot. I believe we are incapable of understanding some things about how this (waves hands around in circles) all works. And one of those things could be how the earth might view us as it tries to survive as well. Probably a little wolololo for this HN post but still something I enjoy dwelling on.
- mcnamaratw 7y ago
  I think you're crazy but downvotes seem unnecessary. I'm upvoting to cancel one out. And if only that dude would start making good movies again. He can do it, we know that.
  - sharkweek 7y ago
    My wife had somehow never had The Sixth Sense spoiled so we watched it recently. It obviously blew her away with the twist, but I also really enjoyed it again, the acting and story are all great.
- jelliclesfarm 7y ago
  I upvoted you to compensate too. I hear you.

Koshkin 7y ago

Indeed: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143774-mother-nature-is-trying-to-kill-you https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143774-mother-nature-i...

sharkweek 7y ago
Oh fun I haven't heard of this book - worth a read?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

DoreenMichele 7y ago

This is probably the worst possible forum to admit to believing the earth could be sentient and could have a soul. But I don't think there is any goal to remove us. More like slap us upside the back of the head and say "Hey, stupid! Stop doing certain things already!"

carapace 7y ago

Mom loves us. (If she wanted to remove us we would be gone.) I've come to believe that humans are meant to serve primarily as gardeners. Once we consciously understand ecology we can enhance ecosystems (Permaculture and other forms of applied ecology) and increase the rate of growth of biomass. We may well also be destined to bring life to a lifeless Universe. (E.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project )