However, in recent decades, the perception of the earth itself as a self-organized entity has become increasingly influential. Scientist James Lovelock was the first to recognize how the different feedback cycles of the oceans, the atmosphere, and the land caused a self-regulating effect responsible for the robust conditions for life to thrive on earth through billions of years. Lovelock named the entire global system Gaia, after the Greek goddess that personified the earth. While Gaia lacks some characteristics of a true organism, it has been shown to display the crucial quality of
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