The Circle Of Life

[poliphilo]

Is this the only way an ecosystem can work- or are there planets out there in the great laboratory of the universe where the critters thrive and evolve without eating one another?

I mean, it's a pretty disgusting carry-on isn't it?

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Perhaps intelligent plant life that uses photosythesis and mineral extrusuionnatural methods, such as a long proboscis, to eat and thrive without being hunter or hunted.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed.

[matrixmann]

Seems like this is the way it needs to be.
And in regard, even plants take something from the earth they stand upon. Also they compete with each other. It's not like peaceful co-existence.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's the way this planet is set up, but I'm not convinced it's the only possible configuration.

[matrixmann]

At least you can say: Certain ways for energy to be transported need to exist.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, certainly.

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

You really do have a bee in your bonnet at the moment - tongue in cheek or not. No-one is more pushy than a convert!!

Just think of all the dead things that would be lying around if nothing ate flesh. Wild animals often take out the old or lame - ie animals that aren't really viable in the herd. Would you just rather they carried on - died, just lay there and decomposed all around?

All that would happen is that the animals, birds etc that were food wouldn't be around as they wouldn't be needed and we'd be much poorer for that!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a very good argument for the status quo- but just suppose there were other ways of disposing of dead bodies- suppose, for instance, they broke down much faster than they do under Earth conditions. I just feel this can't be the only way to run an ecology.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Well, I manage very well on veggies and fruit, but no politics to speak of- I just don't much care for meat or fish.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm a pescatarian these days. It's a halfway house, not particularly satisfactory from the ideological point of view but at least I'm not eating my fellow mammals. Or birds. I'm very fond of birds.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Whatever you find best.

You won't find me evangelising like some of 'em! :o)

[internet-sampo.livejournal.com]

And then time eats us!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes!

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

You don't have to have predators, but they do make life more interesting. And think of how awful it would be with nothing to make our carcasses rot and disappear when we die?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I'm sure we'd find a use for them- as fuel perhaps.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

The only way life can continue is by the consuming of other life. The Jains believe that all life is sentient, including plants. Therefore, one should only eat fruit and the leaves of plants that offer their bounty willingly.

I, on the other hand, believe that all life evolved from a single cell that kept eating bits and bites of proteins & sugars until it grew too big to sustain itself. Then it divided. It kept dividing. then it began working in groups to make the business of life easier.

By this logic, I believe that we are ALL just one living thing. The illusion of individuality is just that, and illusion. When I consume another, I'm consuming a part of myself. We are all a part of a vast WE, constantly growing and improving, and keeping Ourself alive.

If I hurt another unnecessarily, I am only hurting Ourself. But if I FEED myself, then I am feeding Ourself. Ourself provides food for Ourself. Ourself heals Ourself.

Viewing the situation like that, I find the whole system beautiful rather than tragic.