Bryan,

If you want to say that the planet is an individual as in a single
unit thats fine with me since there is obviously not two Earths.
However, your post was about treating the planet as an individual in
the context of altruism. Thus, I made the assumption that you were
assigning some sort of human characteristics to the planet. Otherwise
we could just as easily be talking about a big rock out in the middle
of the desert. Now I suppose we could treat the rock altruistically
(how exactly this would be done is not clear to me), but as Steven
Bissel asked, why?

Also, my main criticism still stands with some simple rewording.

Humans are covered with countless micro-organisms.
The Earth is covered with countless micro-organisms, therefore the
planet has some form of human characteristics.

It is still a false analogy.

Steve



---Bryan Hyden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> steve,
>
> if you are going to criticize something that i wrote, the least you
could do
> would be to not totally change what i said into something
different....
>
> >Humans are comprised of billions of individual cells.
> >The planet is comprised of billions of humans, therefore the planet
is
> >a human.
> >
> >Not quite.
>
> this is beyond a horrible summary of what i wrote... bissell said
that the
> planet is convered with individual organisms and that therefore it
could not
> itself be an individual... i was alluding to the fact that humans
are
> covered with countless micro-organisms (and micro is a relative
> measurement), something which does not stop us from being
individuals....
> i never said that earth was a human..... as you say, that would be
> preposerous... as is your version of what i wrote....
>
> bryan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thursday, December 03, 1998 2:27 AM
> Subject: Re: Is Altruism consistent with environmentalsim?
>
>
> >Bryan,
> >
> >I do believe this is a good example of a false analogy.
> >
> >Humans are comprised of billions of individual cells.
> >The planet is comprised of billions of humans, therefore the planet
is
> >a human.
> >
> >Not quite.
> >
> >Steve
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >---Bryan Hyden wrote:
> >>
> >> >Not that open,
> >> >Because it's kinda dumb to suggest that a planet covered with
> >googols of
> >> >individual organisms is an individual.
> >>
> >> sorry steven, but you did it again... :)
> >>
> >> why, just look at us humans.... we are, as you say, "covered with
> >googols
> >> of individual organisms" and are still considered individuals,
> >> individually....
> >>
> >> bryan
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Steven Bissell <[log in to unmask]>
> >> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 11:24 PM
> >> Subject: Re: Is Altruism consistent with environmentalsim?
> >>
> >>
> >> >
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >From: Bryan Hyden <[log in to unmask]>
> >> >To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> >> >Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 8:22 PM
> >> >Subject: Re: Is Altruism consistent with environmentalsim?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>>Why would you do that?
> >> >>
> >> >>steven, you leave yourself wide open! :)
> >> >>
> >> >>why not?
> >> >>
> >> >>bryan
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >Not that open,
> >> >Because it's kinda dumb to suggest that a planet covered with
> >googols of
> >> >individual organisms is an individual.
> >> >
> >> >Steven
> >> >
> >> >>>>>Almost by definition, "no." There is no way I can think of to
> >extend
> >> >>>>>altruism to the planet, that's an individual to individual
> >action as
> >> >near
> >> >>>>as
> >> >>>>>I can see
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>perhaps i was not clear... i was suggesting that the planet
may
> >be
> >> >viewed
> >> >>>>as 'an individual'....
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>bryan
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>>Why would you do that?
> >> >>>
> >> >>>Bissell
> >> >>>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >_________________________________________________________
> >DO YOU YAHOO!?
> >Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
> >
>
>
>
>

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%