GAIA's BRAIN: Integrating Humanity and the Biosphere
John Champagne
This model of human society as meta-organism, and as nervous system of the gaia organism would transform the educational process. Children can understand the concepts of 'organism' and 'interaction with environment' because they themselves are organisms. They eat and breathe. They can observe protozoa. This gaia brain model would invite early introduction of ideas about social interaction, and would invite the active involvement of children in the collection of opinions among community members about appropriate levels of pollution and use of natural resources, and about perceived community needs; and it would invite their involvement in the assessment of actual conditions. A question is a linguistic device for directing one's attention onto a topic [Minsky], therefore, just the act of asking people about pollution, natural resource use, and community needs will cause them to think about these issues more. The fact that the questions might be put by children will do much to remind all concerned who it is that will be most affected by the answers: the children who will have to live with the consequences of these decisions for many years to come. Students, as assessors of actual conditions and of the accuracy of reports issued by industry, would be involved in the protection of resources that will sustain them in the future, and they would gain valuable knowledge and insight into the workings of society in the process.
Students might cast their own mock votes about what kind of world they would want to live in and what human impacts on the earth ought to be deemed permissible. If they did so with a clear explication of the why behind their votes, adults in the community may want to honor their careful research and serious consideration by copying the students' votes--in effect, delegating their own votes to those outstanding students.
The Gaia brain/pollution fee system will so transform the global economy and society, we probably ought to think in terms of an elimination of government as we know it. With the introduction of significant pollution fees, conventional taxes would be difficult to support financially. And we may decide that they lack philosophical foundation: we may see that a fee according to our use of the earth's natural resources is well founded on philosophical principles of fairness, while taxes on income or sales do not seem on the face to be eminently fair.
The proceeds of the pollution fees and green fees would be a monetary representation of the value of earth's air and water, minerals and biota. As these resources can reasonably be said to belong to all, the proceeds of these fees probably ought to be shared equally among all the people of the earth. This could be the basis of a guaranteed minimum income. Perhaps we could contribute half of our share toward programs that address perceived community needs and use the other half in whatever way we choose. If everyone had access to such an account, no one would live in abject poverty, community programs would be funded according to the priorities of the people, and low income people would have basic social services available.
This new source of economic security would cause the psychological rewards of work to become more prominent as an issue of concern, while job security and pay would become somewhat less important. This would give both employers and employees more freedom to end relationships that they find unsatisfactory; which, in turn, would give them more freedom to enter into relationships that look promising, as there would not be any need for the burdensome legal obligations that often accompany the decision to hire, (although binding contracts would remain an option). A more fluid job market will make it easier for both employers and employees to find what they are looking for. This direct democracy, capitalism-communism synthesis that is gaia brain theory would make it easier for all people to follow their bliss.
The pollution fee/gaia brain concept applies ancient principles to today's challenges. All things are connected. We must live in accord with nature. We must give something back in proportion to what we take. We are the stewards of this planet. The greatest challenges that life presents are those which must be met to ensure the very survival of the organism. The difficult but life sustaining task before us is to transform ourselves from cancer cells of earth to brain cells of earth--to make a healthy, properly functioning world brain; to create anew our global society.
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