In Popular Culture
At least one work of fiction, the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, uses Gaia philosophy as a central point to the plot, and may arguably represent a fictional parallel to Sir James Lovelock in the character of Dr. Cid, who is met with skepticism from the scientific and social community when he promotes the idea of a "living Earth". In the film, Dr. Cid attempts to create a "waveform" from the positive energy signature of the Earth's spirit, in order to combat the films antagonists, the negative energy "Phantoms", through use of phase inversion canceling.
In addition, Gaia philosophy is prominent in the video game Final Fantasy VII where The theme of a living planet where all life is one is symbolized by the idea of the Lifestream. The Lifestream is not only a philosophical theme present in the game, but it actually acts as a plot device, "erupting" at certain points in the game. In the context of Final Fantasy VII and its various spin-offs (which include three games and a movie), the Lifestream is a collection of all the souls and energy on the earth, and is semi-sentient. In fact, in Dirge of The Cerberus, a spin-off game, it is revealed that the Lifestream can and will transplant itself from a planet when that place becomes to dangerous.
Computer game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and its expansion Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire are set on the planet Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system where all indigenous life appears to behave in accordance with the Gaia philosophy. The intelligent force behind this behavior is called simply "Planet" and, in the expansion, is revealed to be artificially created by an alien race. At the time the game takes place, Planet is nearing its self-awareness threshold. Normally, the nature of Planet's life causes it never to attain full sentience; however, human presence adds an unknown variable into the equation.
The Gaia philosophy is a guiding principle for terrorists in the Tom Clancy novel Rainbow Six.
The film Avatar depicts a world (Pandora) that functions like a single organism, in which various species of earth and sky cooperate with the humanoid population (the Na'vi) to defend the planet against a corporate-military invasion.
Gaia is depicted as a mysterious planet in Isaac Asimov's science fiction 'Foundation's Edge'. It is described as a 'superorganism', where all things, both living and inanimate, participate in a larger, group consciousness, while still retaining any individual awareness they might have, such as among the Gaian humans. Gaians played an important role in shaping the future course of universe.
Read more about this topic: Gaia Philosophy
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture is seductive; high culture is imperious.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)
“He was one whose glory was an inner glory, one who placed culture above prosperity, fairness above profit, generosity above possessions, hospitality above comfort, courtesy above triumph, courage above safety, kindness above personal welfare, honor above success.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 1 (1962)