Gaia, in all her symbiogenetic glory, is inherently expansive, subtle, aesthetic, ancient, and exquisitely resilient. No planetoid collisions or nuclear explosions have ever threatened Gaia as a whole. So far the only way in which we humans prove our dominance is by expansion. We remain brazen, crass, and recent, even as we become more numerous. Our toughness is a delusion. Have we the intelligence and discipline to resist our tendency to grow without limit?

The planet will not permit our populations to continue to expand. Runaway populations of bacteria, locusts, roaches, mice, and grass always collapse. Their own wastes disgust as crowding and severe shortage ensue. Diseases, after opportunistic expanding populations of the "other," follow, taking their cue from destructive behavior and social disintegration.

Even herbivores, if desperate, become vicious predators and cannibals. Cows will hunt rabbits or eat their calves, and many mammals will vie for the meat of their runted littermates. Population overgrowth leads to stress, and stress depresses population overgrowthan example of a Gaianregulated cycle.

We people are just like our planetmates. We cannot put an end to nature; we can only pose a threat to ourselves. The notion that we can destroy all life, including bacteria thriving in the water tanks of nuclear power plants or boiling hot vents, is ludicrous. I hear our nonhuman brethren snickering: "Got along without you before I met you, gonna get along without you now," they sing about us in harmony.

Most of them, the microbes, the whales, the insects, the seed plants, and the birds, are still singing. The tropical forest trees are humming to themselves, waiting for us to finish our arrogant logging so they can get back to their business of growth as usual. And they will continue their cacophonies and harmonies long after we are gone.

Lynn Margulis • Symbiotic Planet