Re: Spimes, Bruce Sterling, sustain vs enhance

[John M <***>]

Dear Dan,
to the 2nd cent of yout 2:
you said "enhance". For whom? in what respect" Would you call the pollution
of the atmosphere with oxygen bt the blue-green algae an enhancement? it
made an ecosystem in which WE could evolve...
while wiping out most of the living creature that were.
If our suicidal wisdom finally eliminates the livable conditions for homo,
it will be awfully beneficial for aother species that survive.
Is Gaia OUR keeper? You wrote extremely wise things, I would fully agree
with your ideas, but
I had a feeling that your consideration centers on humans, at least the
presently observable living kinds. We may be the pest, the cancer of the
biosphere and the sooner our lifeform(s) disappear the better for the
world.....
Who's next? Just as those kind crowling anerobs did not figure out our kinds
(dinosaurs, apes, etc.) so we have no ideas about those - maybe the
radiation resistant and frost-tolerating??? upcomings. As I wrote in my post
to Jack: I do not know.

The best

John M
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Fiscus" <***>
To: <***>
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:41 AM
Subject: Re: Spimes, Bruce Sterling, sustain vs enhance


> snip
>
> This is great, but I'd like to point at that 1) our technology so far
> does not enhance the environment or expand the options of those
> who will follow us, in fact it does the opposit, and 2) the
> "technology" of natural ecosystems does enhance the environment
> and expand the options of future generations - life systems build
> soils, biodiversity, beauty and over time even fossil fuels and leaves
> these by-products as gifts or legacy to the future. If we want to do
> what this guy suggests, I think the role model is life itself (and to a
> large degree the ecosystemic organization of it) that creates what
> I call a "bounty of the commons". Life does better than sustaining,
> but we and our industrial, mechanical and computer culture do
> worse than sustaining. On the route to enhancing, sustaining is a
> point we will have to traverse through, so it is a useful milestone
> and criterion to help steer by.
>
> 2cents,
>
> Dan