ABSTRACT
The profound impact of the Earthview has resulted in the picture being used in almost every sphere of human activity. The view of Earth from space brought with it yet another insight: the realization that the planet as a whole may be a living being. The concentration of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere differs by factors of millions from the levels predicted by physical chemistry. There is one more characteristic common to all living systems, which clearly distinguishes them from non-living systems. One of the major proponents of the theory that the planet behaves like a living system is British chemist and inventor Dr. James Lovelock. One branch of General Systems Theory deals particularly with living systems. In his magnum opus, Living Systems, James Miller, one of the pioneers of the approach, proposed that all living systems are composed of subsystems which take in, process, and put out matter, energy, or information, or combinations of these.
