ABSTRACT
The Gaia hypothesis proposes that the Earth behaves like a living organism, actively maintaining the life-supporting chemical composition of its atmosphere by self-regulating the quantity of marine algae and other living organisms in its biomass. Amid the disequilibrium of the Earths atmosphere, the Earth maintains an improbable constancy of life-support conditions in the biosphere. The dynamics of this self-regulation can be understood as cybernetic feedback: the temperature, oxidation state, acidity, and other characteristics of the rocks and waters are kept constant by the responding levels of biota (living organisms).
