How can I be as one with nature? This blog's questions/answers will reveal.
Q: What is the environment?
A: The environment is everything (absolutely everything) that exists! ie: The Universe.
A lot of people I meet cannot understand this at first. They view the environment as everything except that which is 'man made'. This incorrect view is a result of propaganda and a distorted point of view. The distortion arises from the fact that people tend to view the world from a human centric view point (understandably). In setting the view point from our own humanity they don't see us as just a part of the environment that they are observing and hence the evolution that we cause (such as the creation of modern society and technology) doesn't seem to be an integral part of the environment. They cannot see the big picture since they are looking from within the picture. The best way to correct this is to change the point-of-view as in the following hypothetical thought experiment:
Image that you are a hypothetical alien from outer space and you have been assigned a mission to investigate Earth and its evolution. On reporting back to your superiors you are asked to explain what the Great Barrier Reef is. You say something like "The Great Barrier Reef is basically a large hunk of concrete which is created by and serves as the home of a few types of entities called polyps. It also provides a habitat for many other entities to evolve in, for example various fish, eels and crabs". Now your superiors ask you to describe what CBD of Sydney is. You say "Sydney is a large hunk of concrete which created by and serves as the home of a type of entity called Homo Sapiens. It also provides a habitat for many other types of entities to evolve in such as various personal computers, TVs and automobiles". Once we take an independent, remote 3rd person view of Earth, you can see quite clearly that everything in it is a natural part of the environment. Every entity on Earth, whether a carbon/DNA based entity such as dog or a metal-and-plastic/blueprint based entity such as a telephone is the product of natural evolution.
Fundamentally, as any molecular biologist will tell you, every traditional 'carbon based' cellular life form is really just a machine- a very complex machine, but a machine none-the-less. The essential difference between a blue whale and a wheel barrow is that the whale is the more complex of the two machines.
Q: What does the environment do?
A: The environment EVOLVES!. Evolution is the constant inexorable push by the universe to a state of ever greater complexity. The laws of physics are such that the universe will always (eventually) evolve to a higher state of complexity. Ever since its birth by the Big Bang the universe has moved towards complexity. ie: It is the very nature of the universe to evolve.
Q: Mankind evolved onto this planet about 200000 years ago. Has evolution stopped with the creation of mankind?
A: No. Many new types of entities have evolved over the last 200000 years and many have become extinct. Overall during these last 200000 years the environment kept increasing in complexity and furthermore the rate of change of complexity kept increasing --- just like has happened in the long run over the whole history of the universe.
Now you might ask, "How can you possibly believe that the environment is increasing in complexity when mankind is currently destroying it?". The answer is that it isn't being destroyed, but rather it is evolving. For example, the land that a farmer clears for broad acre farming will provide food for us humans allowing our population to increase. This increase of human population is what causes the increase in complexity--- because the human brain is the single most complex thing on Earth. Even though an individual neuron and a tree cell have about the same complexity (with-in an few orders of magnitude), a single human brain is more complex than a whole paddock's worth of trees.
The vast complexity of a mammalian brain results from its highly interconnected neurons (structural complexity). Each neuron in a human brain on average connects to about 7000 other neurons; compare this to the cells in the tree which only connect to the surrounding cells which typically number less than a dozen. Complexity scales exponentially (or even faster) with a linear increase in the number of connections. Thus 1kg of brain matter is almost innumerably more complex than 1kg of tree tissue.
Q: Is biodiversity the important measure of environmental health?
A: Not really. The important measurement is the complexity per unit area of land. Using this metric it turns out that modern 1st world societies are the most environmentally advanced ("healthy") regions on the planet.
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Q: So from the Environment's prospective what it a 'good/correct/friendly' action? How do I 'be-as-one' with nature?
A: An environmentally friendly action is one that you consciously take to drive the universe to a higher state of complexity.
Q: So is pumping tons and tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is actually a good thing?
A: Yes! It is an environmentally friendly action; because the CO2 is the result of a deliberate/purposeful process that is pushing the environment (universe) towards a state of higher complexity.
Q: So land clearing is a good thing?
A: Yes! Purposeful land clearing is actually an environmentally friendly action; because it results in pushing the environment towards a state of higher complexity.
Q: So then I should just go out and burn and destroy everything as an end to itself?
A: No! Because this is deliberately reducing complexity.
An environmentally friendly action is one that you make so as to purposefully cause higher overall complexity. (In the long run it is most likely that it wouldn't matter much if you do aimlessly destroy something, cause the environment is highly opportunistic and will use your random act of destruction as a new base point for its evolution- an example of this is the burst in evolution resulting from the meteorite impact(s?) that wiped out the dinosaurs.)
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Q: So given two options between different possible processes that fulfil the same 'want or need' of mine I should always chose the process that result in the most complexity if I wish to act in an environmentally friendly way?
A: Yes! This is correct.
Q: But how can I possibly decide which process will produce the most overall complexity. Eg: if I am to buy a hot water system for my house, is it more environmentally friendly to buy a solar system or an electric system. How can I possibly foresee all the complexity that results from their construction and maintenance. The construction and maintenance of each system causes innumerable consequences throughout the environment, how can I summate all the complexity?
A: You are correct in saying that the consequences are immense. It is beyond a human being's metal capacity to calculate the total change in complexity resulting from your decision. Yet, we do have a rule to determine the option which is most likely to be the more environmentally friendly (ie: the choice that maximises universal complexity):
RULE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICE: When choosing between two processes that fulfil the same want, choose the process that financially costs the least. The one with the least cost will almost always be the one which results overall in the most complexity! *
This is the fundamental basis of economics! (Economics is really just a specialised branch of the study of evolution, similar to biology.)
If you can understand this and see how why this is then you have a complete understanding of the environment's unrelenting drive towards greater complexity.
So basically to be at one with nature in any situation of trade, maximise your profits!
This can be stated generally as: THE GOLDEN ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLE: MAXIMISED PRODUCTION -> MAXIMISED EVOLUTION == MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ACTION (ie: results in the greatest complexity)
*The following scenario demonstrates how cost is inversely related to complexity:
Consider a team of 50 men who are required to dig up dirt and move it 25 meters to a heap. At first they're using their bare hands to dig and then carry the dirt to the heap. In this case the heap will only gain one cubic meter in an hour, ie the cost is 50 man hr/m^3. Now add mechanical complexity: give them 10 shovels and 10 buckets, so that 10 men digging and 10 carting with buckets the rest are still using bare hands. The crew can now move five cubic meters in an hour, ie. the cost is 10 man-hr/m^3. Now add social complexity: organise 40 of the men so that they are evenly spaced in two lines between the 10 men digging and the heap. They now pass the buckets one to another in a chain without moving from their spot. The total production is now 25 m^3/hr, ie: cost is 2 manhr/m^3. Lastly increase mechanical and social complexity once again: give 30 shovels and 10 carts also divide the men into 5x10 men teams. Each team has 7 men to shovel dirt onto the cart and 3 men to push the cart to the heap and tip off the dirt and 2 carts. While the cart pushers are emptying one cart the shovellers are filling the next. Now the overall production is now 125 m^3/hr, ie: cost is 0.4man-hr/m^3. With each increase in purposeful complexity of the process there results a decrease in cost.
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Q: So carbon taxes and global emission reduction target are a bad thing?
A: Absolutely. There are one of the most evil environmental ideas ever proposed! They are a deliberate attempt to try to retard the evolution of the environment.
(It is interesting to note that even with this the evil amongst its midst, the environment will still strive towards complexity all be it at a sub-optimal rate eg: technology will still evolve, but at a slower rate. It still must be considered evil though because it is deliberate attempt to hinder evolution).
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Q: So can we predict the future of the evolution?
A: Well not exactly, but we have a very good general outline. Basically the fastest currently evolving part of the current environment is what we call 'technology'. The most complex technological entity that has evolved to date is the internet. But the complexity of technology generally has to increase many fold before it rivals our brain. There is good reason to believe that this will occur within the next few of decades, almost certainly before the end of the century. From our perspective it will be a major environmental advance. This future event is considered so significant from our perspective that we have already named it: it is known as the Technological Singularity. A consequence of passing this milestone is that we can no longer predict the future with any real meaningful accuracy, because the environment will be evolving faster and in more complicated ways than that a single (or even collective) human intelligence can understand. It ushers in the rise of the super human-intelligent machine.
Q: This sounds quite depressing. It doesn't seem to provide much hope to mankind. Aren't you saying that humanity is ultimately doomed? Isn't it a very bleak outlook?
A: On hearing this outlook most people seem to form this pessimistic sentiment. But I find purpose and meaning in this future prediction.
Even if our current actions result in the eventual extinction of our species, as long as those actions were performed with the intent of positive environmental evolution (ie: our actions were deliberately taken to increase overall complexity) then our actions are honourable, worthwhile and meaningful. We humans must not delude ourselves by thinking at our species is the pinnacle of evolution, we are not. While we do represent an important step in Earth's inexorable march toward complexity throughout time, we still remain just that, a step. While it is true that there were many steps before our species we should humbly accept that there many, many more unknown steps to come. The most mature position to take is to accept our place and submit to the will of the universe, that is we should actively promote evolution.
BE AS ONE WITH NATURE: INCREASE UNIVERSAL COMPLEXITY IN WHATEVER DEED YOU DO!