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> Equilibrium The closest thing to this is lifeless planets. Mercury is in pretty good equilibrium. Life is chemical reaction, and chemical reactions are ineq
by shrimp_emoji 3y ago
> Equilibrium
The closest thing to this is lifeless planets. Mercury is in pretty good equilibrium.
Life is chemical reaction, and chemical reactions are inequilibria.
Life and equilibrium are opposites -- life is inequilibrium. It's possible because Earth has been in constant change, facilitating energy transfer between organisms, which themselves have been causing changes, like what we're doing or like that one time that cyanobacteria killed everything by creating oxygen[0] or like that other time that methanogens killed everything by creating methane[1].
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanosarcina#Role_in_the_Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanosarcina#Role_in_the_Per...
- BobbyJo 3y agoThat's not really a relevant comment. We aren't talking about Earth being in equilibrium, we are talking about ocean temperatures ending their rise. Parent used equilibrium to describe the end of warming, not to suggest that we'd reach some kind of desirable global homeostasis. I think we'd all be happy with a disequilibrium that made things cool down from where they are presently, or from where they'll be in 200 years.