Earth immune system
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The '''Earth immune system''' is a controversial proposal, claimed to be a consequence of the [[Gaia theory (science)|Gaia hypothesis]].
The Gaia hypothesis holds that the entire earth may be considered a single organism (Gaia).
As a self-maintaining organism, Earth would possess an [[immune system]] of some sort in order to maintain its health.
Some proponents of this speculative concept, for example, hold that [[human|humankind]] can be considered an "[[infection]]" of Gaia, and that [[AIDS]] is an attempt by this immune system to reject the infection.
"[[Cancer]]" might be a more accurate term, as humans [[evolution|evolved]] within Gaia, and are not external invaders.
An opposite view is that humankind is Gaia's immune system itself, perhaps evolved to avert future catastrophes such as the [[Permian-Triassic extinction event|Permian]] and [[Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event|Cretaceous]] [[mass extinction]]s of species.
[[James Lovelock]]'s book "Gaia's Revenge" suggests that Gaia has many mechanisms for eliminating [[civilisation]]s that do harm through [[greenhouse gas emission]]s and [[global warming]], but suggests that with increasing heat being received from the sun, Gaia's ability to "bounce back" as it did after the [[Permian]] and [[Cretaceous]] [[extinction]] events, may be increasingly compromised.
==References==
* Bailey, Ronald (July 31, 2002). [http://www.reason.com/rb/rb073102.shtml Defenders of Earth: Are humans Gaia's immune system?] ''Reasononline''. Retrieved 2005-03-26.
* Lehman, Andy (April 12, 2003). [http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v68/__show_article/_a000068-000018.htm Subtle Psychopathy and Schizophrenic Supermen: Gandhi Was a Cultural Oncologist]. ''New Civilization Network, Personal News Logs''. Retrieved 2005-03-26.
==See also==
*[[Gaia hypothesis]]
*[[Gaia philosophy]]
*[[Geophysiology]]
*[[Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Ecological theories]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
{{philo-stub}}
[[ja:地球免疫説]]