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Gaian Systems: Lynn Margulis, Neocybernetics, and the End of the Anthropocene (Posthumanities)
A groundbreaking look at Gaia theory’s intersections with neocybernetic systems theory
Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis. Gaian Systems is a pioneering exploration of the dynamic and complex evolution of Gaia’s many variants, with special attention to Margulis’s foundational role in these developments. Bruce Clarke assesses the different dialects of systems theory brought to bear on Gaia discourse. Focusing in particular on Margulis’s work—including multiple pieces of her unpublished Gaia correspondence—he shows how her research and that of Lovelock was concurrent and conceptually parallel with the new discourse of self-referential systems that emerged within neocybernetic systems theory. The recent Gaia writings of Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Bruno Latour contest its cybernetic status. Clarke engages Latour on the issue of Gaia’s systems description and extends his own systems-theoretical synthesis under what he terms “metabiotic Gaia.” This study illuminates current issues in neighboring theoretical conversations—from biopolitics and the immunitary paradigm to NASA astrobiology and the Anthropocene. Along the way, he points to science fiction as a vehicle of Gaian thought. Delving into many issues not previously treated in accounts of Gaia, Gaian Systems describes the history of a theory that has the potential to help us survive an environmental crisis of our own making.
Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis. Gaian Systems is a pioneering exploration of the dynamic and complex evolution of Gaia’s many variants, with special attention to Margulis’s foundational role in these developments. Bruce Clarke assesses the different dialects of systems theory brought to bear on Gaia discourse. Focusing in particular on Margulis’s work—including multiple pieces of her unpublished Gaia correspondence—he shows how her research and that of Lovelock was concurrent and conceptually parallel with the new discourse of self-referential systems that emerged within neocybernetic systems theory. The recent Gaia writings of Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Bruno Latour contest its cybernetic status. Clarke engages Latour on the issue of Gaia’s systems description and extends his own systems-theoretical synthesis under what he terms “metabiotic Gaia.” This study illuminates current issues in neighboring theoretical conversations—from biopolitics and the immunitary paradigm to NASA astrobiology and the Anthropocene. Along the way, he points to science fiction as a vehicle of Gaian thought. Delving into many issues not previously treated in accounts of Gaia, Gaian Systems describes the history of a theory that has the potential to help us survive an environmental crisis of our own making.
- GenresClimate ChangeEcology
342 pages, Paperback
Published September 29, 2020
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126 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 20, 2021
I've always been mystified by the neocybernetic, second-order systems theory turn in the range of literary studies, media theory, science studies, and contemporary philosophy that I encountered during multiple iterations of the annual meetings of the Society for Literature, Science, & the Arts. There were too many recursive iterations of thinkers that I wasn't familiar with and had little context for, along with references to disciplines and practices out of my range, but I always liked what I was picking up as a kind of material/mystical hybrid, and I at least knew enough Prigogine and Stengers (the classic "Order out of Chaos") and had spent enough time in front of fractal-generating program on my first PC to feel my way into some of this.
Bruno Clarke's "Gaian Systems" has contributed immensely to my understanding and appreciation of what was going on in all those SLSA sessions, and I now feel confident in my grasp of core concepts and the general historical arc from von Foerster to Varela and Maturana and others thanks to his excellent survey in these pages. Moreover, linking this up to Lynn Margulis, and James Lovelock, by way of the presentation of "Gaian Systems" thinking specifically is super-helpful, bringing into play more ways of thinking that I'm invested in and which I seek to incubate when engaging my own grad students in our "Emergent Digital Practices" program and the "Joint PhD in religious studies" at U of Denver. I've also been eager for a useful way to get past the buzz of the "anthropocene" as well as the philosophical anthropocentrism it encourages. But Clarke's book doesn't just challenge anthropocenic stances as intellectual problems, he shows that they simply aren't, ultimately, good for the planet or much to the point of helping us navigate some very real, increasingly immediate dilemmas. This isn't an ethical polemic, by any means, but it does help me sketch out some responses that draw on an established and significant counter-history of the 20th/early 21st century, and I appreciate as well the speculative, forward-thinking thrust of the project.
Bruno Clarke's "Gaian Systems" has contributed immensely to my understanding and appreciation of what was going on in all those SLSA sessions, and I now feel confident in my grasp of core concepts and the general historical arc from von Foerster to Varela and Maturana and others thanks to his excellent survey in these pages. Moreover, linking this up to Lynn Margulis, and James Lovelock, by way of the presentation of "Gaian Systems" thinking specifically is super-helpful, bringing into play more ways of thinking that I'm invested in and which I seek to incubate when engaging my own grad students in our "Emergent Digital Practices" program and the "Joint PhD in religious studies" at U of Denver. I've also been eager for a useful way to get past the buzz of the "anthropocene" as well as the philosophical anthropocentrism it encourages. But Clarke's book doesn't just challenge anthropocenic stances as intellectual problems, he shows that they simply aren't, ultimately, good for the planet or much to the point of helping us navigate some very real, increasingly immediate dilemmas. This isn't an ethical polemic, by any means, but it does help me sketch out some responses that draw on an established and significant counter-history of the 20th/early 21st century, and I appreciate as well the speculative, forward-thinking thrust of the project.
May 27, 2021
Fantastic overview of the development of Gaian thought through the conception of the hypothesis in the early 70's to modern day interpretations and implications that Gaian theory has with reference to our epistemological conception of the natural world. If you are interested in pursuing the Gaian rabbit hole and looking for a good place to start, this is it. Clarke's references have left me with an increasing list of relevant literature to further pursue the development of scientific and philosophical Gaian thought.
March 31, 2022
A solid piece of archivally rooted intellectual history of the Gaia concept in the holistic cybernetic thinking of systems ecology, focusing on the work of Lynn Margulis (as opposed to Lovelock). Particularly good is the chapter on the network of thinkers around Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth Catalog, which helped mainstream the ideas of Margulis and the cyberneticists in the 1970s-80s.
Like much writing by "environmental humanities," however, it suffers from recurrent stylistic trainwrecks. For example: "Today, 'recursiveness' may be substituted for 'circularity,' and the theory of recursive functions, calculi of self-reference, and the logic of autology, that is, concepts that can be applied to themselves, may be taken as appropriate formalisms." (6) Or: "Margulis gravitated to the formal but non-informatic concept of autopoiesis, and Lovelock did not, I speculate, because the autopoietic take on living organization places a firewall between living autonomy and nonliving affordance, between the systemic form of living metabolism and the molecular structuring of its informatic niche." (273)
Like much writing by "environmental humanities," however, it suffers from recurrent stylistic trainwrecks. For example: "Today, 'recursiveness' may be substituted for 'circularity,' and the theory of recursive functions, calculi of self-reference, and the logic of autology, that is, concepts that can be applied to themselves, may be taken as appropriate formalisms." (6) Or: "Margulis gravitated to the formal but non-informatic concept of autopoiesis, and Lovelock did not, I speculate, because the autopoietic take on living organization places a firewall between living autonomy and nonliving affordance, between the systemic form of living metabolism and the molecular structuring of its informatic niche." (273)
December 24, 2023
Really interesting book, and deep dive into Gaia and autopoiesis. I'm a biology teacher interested in these ideas, but this book really made me think and make new connections. Not so much for the layman, I feel. The language can be highbrow at times. Although, this seemed to be clustered at certain points, and most was accessible. For the times we live in, I feel the book is an important read, and I really enjoyed it.
May 3, 2021
A tour de force history of ideas tracing the productive exchange between the Gaia theory of Lovelock and Margulis, the neocybernetics of Maturana and Varela, and the systems counterculture of the Coevolution Quarterly and the Lindisfarne conferences and publications. Thorough, finely articulated, with concepts illuminated, here and there, by scenarios from hard sci-fi, both classic and recent.
July 4, 2021
Magisterial tour de force on our Gaian planet
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews