135
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_15
Chapter 15
The Evolution of Innocence and Strategy
15.1 Ethics and the Biological
The minimal water vapor, the nitrogen, the argon—such gasses our minds tend
to ignore. But the 20.95% normal oxygen level in today’s atmosphere is our conditioned lifeline. Our biological opposites, in this realm, were earth’s early obligate anaerobes, toxic by our living standards. Fermentation and respiration were
restricted under aboriginal conditions to the aerobes. The culprits of this early
global extinction event, the ones that produced the oxygen, represent the most classic example of storytelling in the annals of biochemistry; where photosynthetic
cyanobacteria, the “culprits,” are today recognized for engendering all of life’s preconditions, first in the oceans, and 250 million years later, on land.
1
This Great
Oxidation Event (“GOE”) should remind us how sensitivities and tolerance levels
have meaning on this planet; but less so in terms of mathematical values that are,
after all, entirely the byproduct of human imagination.
2
What may be life-sustaining for one, kills the other. If ever there were two fundamental stanchions, dyads,
bedpartners utterly at odds, it is within this framework that our narrative seeks out
mechanisms like evolution to ease the courting procedures, and invite slow transitions to lessen the trauma. Generally speaking, evolution under unforced conditions
renders less draconian these early biological conversations; until evolution itself
dwindles into insignificance.
1 See Mojtaba Fakhraee, Sean A. Crowe, Sergei Katsev. Sedimentary sulfur isotopes and
Neoarchean ocean oxygenation. Science Advances, 2018; 4 (1): e1701835 DOI: https://doi.
org/10.1126/sciadv.1701835, Accessed March 18, 2019.
2 See Sosa Torres, Martha E.; Saucedo-Vázquez, Juan P.; Kroneck, Peter M.H. (2015). “Chapter 1,
Section 2 “The rise of dioxygen in the atmosphere””. In Peter M.H. Kroneck and Martha E. Sosa
Torres. Sustaining Life on Planet Earth: Metalloenzymes Mastering Dioxygen and Other Chewy
Gases. Metal Ions in Life Sciences. 15. Springer. pp. 1–12. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/9783-319-12415-5_1
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_15
Chapter 15
The Evolution of Innocence and Strategy
15.1 Ethics and the Biological
The minimal water vapor, the nitrogen, the argon—such gasses our minds tend
to ignore. But the 20.95% normal oxygen level in today’s atmosphere is our conditioned lifeline. Our biological opposites, in this realm, were earth’s early obligate anaerobes, toxic by our living standards. Fermentation and respiration were
restricted under aboriginal conditions to the aerobes. The culprits of this early
global extinction event, the ones that produced the oxygen, represent the most classic example of storytelling in the annals of biochemistry; where photosynthetic
cyanobacteria, the “culprits,” are today recognized for engendering all of life’s preconditions, first in the oceans, and 250 million years later, on land.
1
This Great
Oxidation Event (“GOE”) should remind us how sensitivities and tolerance levels
have meaning on this planet; but less so in terms of mathematical values that are,
after all, entirely the byproduct of human imagination.
2
What may be life-sustaining for one, kills the other. If ever there were two fundamental stanchions, dyads,
bedpartners utterly at odds, it is within this framework that our narrative seeks out
mechanisms like evolution to ease the courting procedures, and invite slow transitions to lessen the trauma. Generally speaking, evolution under unforced conditions
renders less draconian these early biological conversations; until evolution itself
dwindles into insignificance.
1 See Mojtaba Fakhraee, Sean A. Crowe, Sergei Katsev. Sedimentary sulfur isotopes and
Neoarchean ocean oxygenation. Science Advances, 2018; 4 (1): e1701835 DOI: https://doi.
org/10.1126/sciadv.1701835, Accessed March 18, 2019.
2 See Sosa Torres, Martha E.; Saucedo-Vázquez, Juan P.; Kroneck, Peter M.H. (2015). “Chapter 1,
Section 2 “The rise of dioxygen in the atmosphere””. In Peter M.H. Kroneck and Martha E. Sosa
Torres. Sustaining Life on Planet Earth: Metalloenzymes Mastering Dioxygen and Other Chewy
Gases. Metal Ions in Life Sciences. 15. Springer. pp. 1–12. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/9783-319-12415-5_1