Naked Science
Naked ScienceJames Ephraim Lovelock, is an independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist who lives in Dorset, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which he discusses in this exclusive interview, filmed in 2007.
The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. Topics of interest include how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms affect the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other environmental variables that affect the habitability of Earth.
The hypothesis, which is named after the Greek goddess Gaia, was formulated by the scientist James Lovelock and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s. The hypothesis was initially criticised for being teleological and contradicting principles of natural selection, but later refinements resulted in ideas framed by the Gaia Hypothesis being used in fields such as Earth system science, biogeochemistry, systems ecology, and the emerging subject of geophysiology. Nevertheless, the Gaia hypothesis continues to attract criticism, and today many scientists consider it to be only weakly supported by, or at odds with, the available evidence. In 2006, the Geological Society of London awarded Lovelock the Wollaston Medal largely for his work on the Gaia theory.
Questions asked in this interview :
What does Gaia tell us about the Earth?
Is global warming really happening?
What would the climate be like without humans?
Has global warming ever happened before?
What can we expect to see in 20 to 30 years from now?
What will conditions be like at the end of this century?
Are there too many people on the planet?
When do you think global warming began?
Will global warming cause a mass extinction?
Can nuclear power save the planet?
What about the problem of nuclear waste?
Can nuclear power be used for transport?
Could renewable energy be the solution?
Do you think that we will ever be able to control our climate?
Can we realistically reduce carbon dioxide emissions?
Have we passed the tipping point?
Could Earth become as lifeless as Mars of Venus?
Is there any hope for the human race?
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35 Comments
@RezaDashti-q4h
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMFinal fantasy 7 ideology 💯
@Me-kg1ht
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMthis is pure madness. how about we tune in with this perfect self regulating system?
@amicusauthenticus1472
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMIt's shocking to hear an erudit man vomiting the "climate change" propaganda with such a lack of lucidity and intelligence. Science is about doubts not dogmas. Climate "change" is its natural state. Climate has always been and will always be dynamic and changing…. With or without humans. Co2 is the tree that hides the forest of pollutions, GMOs, deforestation, over-hunting, overfishing, etc… The real issues are NOT addressed while the Co2 (which is a fertiliser not a killer) is pointed out as the only responsible factor of climat "change". Luckily, Co2 can be taxxed and monitored through political control. What a coincidence, folks !
@abravenewworld9300
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMFrankly, the superb human hypothesizes truths and theorizes desires.
This man, Mr. Lovelock conveys something pure. We are still making mistakes, with the human naturality, of course. Is time to wake up and clean out what think be our intelligence and not artificializate it.
@ChesyreFrog
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMNuclear has always been the stopgap and it's been buried for decades! Even he mentions the inefficiency of renewable sources as a man who loves the environment.
@m0rb1dEON
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PM+2 billion apes in 9 years, crazy!
@ivanhunter3907
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMAnother Partial-Malthusian believer who shall for ever be wrong about CO2.. Despite this he was quite present to listen too with some serious sensibilities that have thus far eluded others..
@44point5
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMToo bad James wasn't given another decade or two. He would have learned how wrong he was on so many levels. Nuclear not being built primarily because of cost. The cost of solar and wind plunging. But most notably he missed the work of Anastassia Makarieva and others who are providing the scientific basis to the primacy of the biotic basis of climate stability, in particular the loss of vegetation especially forest cover is driving climate breakdown. That CO2 is an effect of this process with a secondary, minor effect on the destabilization of the climate. And that rhe solution lies not in aeroplanes spraying shit, but in the restoration of living systems. And of course stopping the tragic deforestation and aridification of landscapes and other bad land management practices.
@PatrickGott-f5k
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMRip
@connormcnab540
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMWhat's the camp he mentioned New York turning into?
@emil_mm
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMDude global warming is a liberal hoax
@nemo196
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMWe'll work on it tomorrow.
@nemo196
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMHomosapien. Just a disgusting, rotten, horrible, sleazy species. And it WILL get what it deserves.
@kateworsley5743
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMwhat a brilliant mind he had. Him and Lynn Margulis.
@annstubbs2256
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMWhat have we done 😭😭😭😭
@FLS96
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMUp until this point, I've heard about global warming in the media by young alarmist politicians who don't have any merits in science, so I've not been taking it very seriously. Politics can sometimes corrupt science education. But listening to a well-educated and renowned old scientist, who has probably over his lifetime noticed the effects first hand, is very convincing to me. Lovelock has changed my view over time as I've been indulging in his speeches lately. It's sad to hear about his passing, but he managed to live far beyond the life expectancy and was happy and coherent to the end, a feat most of us cannot accomplish. Rest in peace!
@pillarsoflight2607
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMRest peacefully, James. Gaia thanks you greatly for this incredible vision.
@mathematics5573
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMJames lovelock got accused of being a hippocrite, by an audience, when he told everyone to live in air conditioned skyscrapers, but he wanted to live in a cottage by the sea.
@scokim
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PM"And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much, much too late
Well, maybe we should all be praying for time", George Michael
@showme360
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMI love the idea of a gaia system at work and can see it all around me, oraniseums interacting with one another is a fasinating process to watch and thats why i chose to watch this interview with James. However we have solar and we use it to run our home and cars, so why does he take this view about solar energy, when in the same sentence he talks about micro nuclear plants. Even in the UK solar is still making a contributuion, so much so that we are pritty much self relient during the summer months.
What is over looked in this video is the Gaia response, meaning the weather system that will build to levels never see before and start to strip away our ideal modern world to burn and or smash it to bits. Wars will break out and if nuclear weapons are used, well its all over anyway.
I also believe that the amount of water being released from the poles will have an effect on the tectonic plates, as the earth heats up so will water, water becomes heavier at higher temperatures, and when water on a vast scale made of oceans, that's going to have an effect on the tectonic plates, causing shifts and so resulting in massive earth quakes. I think this process has already begun.
The one thing I don't like about Nuclear is not just the waste, and yes its stored in under ground facilities and locked away,but what happens when the Earth moves and those cavities become unsafe and leak nuclear waste into the water system. Who in a hundred years, let alone a thousand years, is going to take responsibility for it, or don't we care about people that far into the future?
@jeffryfoley5887
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMWhat a dear old man. What a great and sad loss when, in his 103rd year, he left us a week or so ago (July 28th).
@jeffryfoley5887
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMThanks
@bobsygaia157
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMAlas, Materialism Science, reflecting the Dominant Materialism Paradigm, could not comprehend the Emerging COnsciousness Paradigm and this legends wisdom was ignored… So now our children are condemned to suffer the Climate Crisis amongst other dinassouriec systems that are still in place on our global social political economic agenda… Wake Up! Wake Up! For the Earth's sake…R.I.P. Dr James Lovelock and thank you for all your science & wisdom. Bobsy
@youtufanreincarnation4446
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMR.I.P James Lovelock. He was a great guy that made something great.
@timetochronicle
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMRest in peace, James Lovelock. I will forever remember the Gaia hypothesis and how it inspired SimEarth
@bugt7828
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMDescanse en Paz 🙏🏼🙏🏼🌏❤❤
@JuanCristobal
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMRIP ♥️
@NeilMalthus
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMDied today, unfortunately. 🙁It looks like I'll need someone else to endorse my novel (aimed at addressing the ecocide more effectively than we are currently).
@firedrakeserpents7497
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMSave the planet? The planet will do just fine. I believe there will be a different event in our future that will be much more lethal than what this gentleman is talking about. Although different, life will go on.
@armandoalejandro7209
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMEventually the same thing that has happened to most planets will happen to earth the water and soil will eventually absorb one another and mix it' self in to a giant mud ball with water underneath making it unhabitable unlivable unstable impossible to sustain life…the sun will get so hot that the water will evaporate into space into a giant ball of ice then it will get pushed by the suns heat back into motion sending in through space Looking for it's new victim
@ella-ou8nw
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMشديصير بل ارض والمسلمين يفكرون بل نكاح وملك ليمين😂
@maddogg26
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMIf u eat taco bell tonight and fart out of uranus that may save our atmosphere
@solutionproject9020
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PM@wisdom-for-life
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMThe whole planet is changing.. hopefully we wake up and start fitting in with the natural world, otherwise the planet will make some drastic changes for us. I believe mankind will survive, but there will be a massive population reduction (hopefully it is gradual).. Great video and great ending.
@philoktoday
03/07/2025 - 8:31 PMInteresting – but not quite what I expected – The God Gaia – that of a sentinel Earth(one that thinks) would have been more interesting. Mr Lovelock's unfortunate lack of knowledge of Natural History, ie;- Humming bird hawk moths have always been in the UK – I remember them 60 years ago as a boy. What he could have said more precisely was the presence of the Daddy Long legs spider that appeared in Kent around 30 years ago and has since migrated North as the climate has changed. Mad views on nucler waste – what he has not told us is the MASSIVE cost of Sellerffield and the huge ACCIDENT that made the site unsafe and redundant!!! AND more importantly the ongoing HUGE cost of storing this waste = BILLIONS – PLUS the site is getting old and falling apart – more cost!!!!! What planet are these nutty scientists on – they really do live in a bubble!!!