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<blockquote>The communities of creatures in forests, ponds, oceans, or grasslands seem to tend toward a condition called climax, "virgin forest" - many species, old bones, lots of rotten leaves, complex energy pathways, woodpeckers living in snags, and conies harvesting tiny piles of grass. This condition has considerable stability and holds much energy in its web - energy that in simpler systems (a field of weeds just after a bulldozer) is lost back into the sky or down the drain. All of evolution may have been as much shaped by this pull toward climax as it has been by simple competition between individuals and species. If human being have any place in this scheme it may well have to do with their most striking characteristic - a large brain, and language. And a conciousness of a peculiarly self-concious order. Our human awareness and eager poking, probing, and studying is our beginning contribution to planet-system energy-conserving; another level of climax! </blockquote> | <blockquote>The communities of creatures in forests, ponds, oceans, or grasslands seem to tend toward a condition called climax, "virgin forest" - many species, old bones, lots of rotten leaves, complex energy pathways, woodpeckers living in snags, and conies harvesting tiny piles of grass. This condition has considerable stability and holds much energy in its web - energy that in simpler systems (a field of weeds just after a bulldozer) is lost back into the sky or down the drain. All of evolution may have been as much shaped by this pull toward climax as it has been by simple competition between individuals and species. If human being have any place in this scheme it may well have to do with their most striking characteristic - a large brain, and language. And a conciousness of a peculiarly self-concious order. Our human awareness and eager poking, probing, and studying is our beginning contribution to planet-system energy-conserving; another level of climax! </blockquote> |