Asked by Mark Parsec ^(16,695)
Mark Parsec 22 days 3 hours ago. (More question by this person)

Do you believe that planets are living organisms?

The Gaia Theory proposes that some planets exhibit characteristics common with living organisms; circulatory systems, respritory systems, digestive systems, etc.

Answer from Ben Morrish ^(7,929)
Ben Morrish 21 days 22 hours ago. More questions answered by this person)
No, planets aren't living organisms, but its true to say that ecosystems do exhibit some similarities to living organisms.

However, living organisms (with the possible exception of some humans, some of the time) do not do things for "the greater good", and the global biosphere doesn't work to preserve currently living species or to make things comfortable for them.

Answer from Robert Ogden ⁽²²⁷⁾ 21 days 21 hours ago. More questions answered by this person)
No. Nor the stars. I thought the Bible said something about the stars being alive, but all I've found so far on that is that God has numbered and named them in Psalms 147:4 and actually names the constellations "Orion" and "Pleiades" in Job (9:9 and 38:31) and Amos 5:8. No evidence of their being alive from scripture.

If planets were actually alive and came from burned out stars, that would mean the stars were once alive or that life was created in death. Hard to imagine stars being alive with all of that burning hydrogen and no apparent indication of life from the scriptures.

Comment from Gregory Lewis ^(1,502) 21 days 19 hours ago.
The scriptures are imperfect because they are pre-science. In the absence of science, the human authors of the Bible had to resort to imagination to explain the natural world. As for life being the absence of hot air, I have observed otherwise.

- G

Answer from Gregory Lewis ^(1,502)
Gregory Lewis 21 days 19 hours ago. More questions answered by this person)
   Selected as Best Answer!   
I think it's possible that earth is a living organism, and even has a consciousness. My reasoning is that earth is organized, in the sense that it has strata, like atmosphere, an ocean level, and a ground level. It goes without saying that there is life on earth, but more to the point, that life constitutes an integrated whole. Each life form is not singular, having evolved without connection to the rest of the whole. Therefore, earth has a bio-stratus, in addition to its other strata. The bio strata, furthermore, penetrates, consumes, transpires, and is in a relationship with the atmosphere, sea, and ground. In other words, the very minerals of the earth manifest in living organisms.

We can extrapolate an answer by a comparison of the ant to the elephant, where the ant might be unable to conceive the life of the elephant, but that doesn't invalidate the elephant as a living creature. Neither does our unawareness invalidate Gaia consciousness.

- G

Comment from Dianne Lehmann ^(5,738) 19 days 15 hours ago.
Great answer! And right in line with my general thinking on the matter.