ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the simplest elements of planet earth and explains the relationships among these elements. It discusses the survival potential of mankind's living on finite resources. In the open system of animate nature, there is a tendency, known as negative entropy, toward states of higher order and differentiation in organic development and evolution. Biological life sorts, selects, compacts, adapts, and regenerates with increasing orderliness of species and substances. Boulding and Ward developed the analogy of the human race as a ship's crew on a single spaceship; this spaceship represents the totality of the ecologic-economic interrelationship. There is, at present, a dichotomy between models of evolution: the naturalistic model versus the humanistic or anthropocentric models. There is some speculative evidence that activities in the health care system are embarking on a course that may jeopardize the delicate systems balance that supports the humanistic approach toward evolution.
