Planetary immune systems

The earth can be seen as a meta-organism composed of super-organisms, such as human beings. We host somewhere between 2000-2500 different species, most of which reside in our guts. Females have more diversity than males, and those extra species tend to live in the birth canal where one of their functions is to coat babies as they are born. Whether we are born vaginally or by Cesarean section, within minutes of our entry into the world we are coated in a multitude of bacteria and they remain our constant companions throughout life. The method of birth may affect the subsequent development of our whole organism and particularly the immune system.

The first strain of E. coli that colonizes our guts programs our immune system to treat all other strains as deadly invaders. This is why a bacteria that is so common in all our guts causes so much havoc (magnified by idiotic agricultural practices).

In Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas writes:

It is a natural tendency for genetically unrelated cells in tissue culture to come together, ignoring species differences, and fuse to form hybrid cells. Inflammation and immunology must indeed be powerfully designed to keep us apart; without such mechanisms, involving considerable effort, we might have developed as a kind of flowing syncytium over the earth, without the morphogenesis of even a flower.

The immune system was necessary and also, destructive. It is the beginning of Other. I believe in the idea of Occupying Love. I also believe that we will always have the Other because we need it, like we need death.

Yes, we need death. It is the invention of invention and without it there is no basis for natural selection, no need for reproduction and definitely no sexual selection. Without death there is no speciation. Without death we could not exist.

We can appreciate death, and then gain an appreciation for pain that prevents death. From that, an appreciation of fear that prevents pain. This is not to argue for a fear-driven life, but to acknowledge the necessity of it and the foolishness of the idea of banishing it.

One can look at the history of impact events on the earth and see some correlations to mass extinctions. If the earth is a meta-organism, we may be developing as a technologically proficient species in order to serve a type of planetary immune function. And we should have humility, knowing that our own immune systems create auto-immune diseases that cause much sickness and death. We can as easily destroy our biosphere as save it.