Not true, if we eventually populate the moon or mars and make them habitable, is that not Gaia reproducing herself? Humans are the seeds to replicate Gaia throughout the universe. It may take hundreds of years, but to Gaia that could be only seem like a couple of years…" "

Very true, very true, I must say that I have thought of this idea before I heard of this "Gaia" idea.

This idea sits very logically in my idea of the place we exist.

Not true, if we eventually populate the moon or mars and make them habitable, is that not Gaia reproducing herself? Humans are the seeds to replicate Gaia throughout the universe. It may take hundreds of years, but to Gaia that could be only seem like a couple of years…

Calling the whole bundle one big super-organism doesn't actually contribute anything useful. We already agreed that they are dependent.

Since the bio-sphere experiments were compromised we haven't as much insight on "Gaia" isolation/reproduction.

Though it's not a closed system, you see the same build up of dependent life on the ISS, in fact I believe they found a nasty sphere of water and bacteria behind an access panel on the Mir!

Are our satellite "baby Gaia"? Does it really matter? Our previous definition/understanding already accounted for the dependencies. So at best it is a non-contribution and at worst, distracting pseudo-science.

Maybe living earth is a child of other planets.

Ah, Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2F_hGwD26g

To RL:
Thank you so much for the kind comment. So happy you are enjoying the stories I choose!

Cheers, Ian

(Yes! You don't know how long I've been waiting to use that word in a sentence – 28 years actually…a long story).

None the less, this was a very interesting article. Thank you, Ian. I would like to compliment you, Fraser and the rest of the staff on a website that does make me think. Keep up the good work!

"In the thought of Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere can be seen as the "sphere of human thought". The noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements.
For Teilhard, the noosphere is best described as a sort of 'collective consciousness' of human-beings. It emerges from the interaction of human minds. The noosphere has grown in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. As mankind organizes itself in more complex social networks, the higher the noosphere will grow in awareness. This is an extension of Teilhard's Law of Complexity/Consciousness, the law describing the nature of evolution in the universe. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, added that the noosphere is growing towards an even greater integration and unification, culminating in the Omega Point—which he saw as the goal of history.

The noosphere concept of 'unification' was elaborated in popular science fiction by Julian May in the Galactic Milieu Series. It is also the reason Teilhard is often called the patron saint of the Internet.

I'm not disputing the distinct differences between human cells and bacteria; they simply work in tandem to ensure the body functions.

ioresult's statement "I wish you'd do a little research before spewing nonsense like that" is not only unconstructive it is very hurtful to the writer. We work very hard with Fraser to bring you up-to-the-minute news items with plenty of diverse articles from all facets of space science. To seriously believe I did not research this article is not only insulting, it is very short sighted. I might have made a mistake, yes (I'm a space physicist, not a biologist), but I will correct it if necessary, a simple error.

If you have any constructive comments or something to debate, please feel free to voice your opinion. Until you have a world-class space news blog or become a science writer, only then can you criticise our writing (even then, send the editor an email, it's only polite).