Monk, didn't expect you to use chemical terms. The correct chemical term is a 'stable steady-state'. Yes, if your body reaches equilibrium that means you are dead. But if your body goes to far from the stable steady-state, you also die. Examples of this would be deficiency in trace elements, overexposure to CO2, dehydration, etc.
You see, a stable steady state is selfcorrecting if the preturbations are small. Your body can deal with minor changes in your environment. But if the changes are to big, the situation goes outside of the stabe steady state region, and the system goes amock.
(Incidentally, this is exactly what happens when chemical reactors blow up. One of the most important tasks when building a reactor is to figure out in what region stable steady state is reached, as one cannot do it evolutionary... Would take too many reactors.)
The global environment follows the same priniciple. A small change is selfcorrecting. A big change, however, such as a dinosaur killer, cannot be corrected for, and global parameters will change enough to the more vulnerable life forms to die.
I don't quite undertsand your last paragraph. Are you claiming that we shouldn't worry about global warming because even though humanity dies out, cockroaches will survive? Interesting... Well, I guess that makes me a stinking humanity-lover, as I'd prefer humanity and civilization to survive...
You see, a stable steady state is selfcorrecting if the preturbations are small. Your body can deal with minor changes in your environment. But if the changes are to big, the situation goes outside of the stabe steady state region, and the system goes amock.
(Incidentally, this is exactly what happens when chemical reactors blow up. One of the most important tasks when building a reactor is to figure out in what region stable steady state is reached, as one cannot do it evolutionary... Would take too many reactors.)
The global environment follows the same priniciple. A small change is selfcorrecting. A big change, however, such as a dinosaur killer, cannot be corrected for, and global parameters will change enough to the more vulnerable life forms to die.
I don't quite undertsand your last paragraph. Are you claiming that we shouldn't worry about global warming because even though humanity dies out, cockroaches will survive? Interesting... Well, I guess that makes me a stinking humanity-lover, as I'd prefer humanity and civilization to survive...
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