PLANET as a SYSTEM
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2561 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
A. LOTKA introduced the idea to consider our planet as a whole, as a global system (although using a vocabulary of mecanicist style); “The great world engine — in which each of us is a most insignificant little wheel — has its energy source, its firebox, so to speak, in the sun” (1956, p.331).
This is more than a mere metaphor. LOTKA dedicates a significant part of his “Elements of mathematical biology” to the study of energetic exchanges between the atmosphere, the lithosphere and the hydrosphere and describes, in an explicite way the living beings as a whole (biosphere) or a unified system of coupled transformers of energy, tending towards its maximal possible use, in connexion with the planet system.
LOTKA has been indeed a precursor of LOVELOCK's entity{GAIA}'s idea and of PRIGOGINE's thermodynamics of dissipative systems.