Setting aside the man made horrors beyond our comprehension, I’m extremely curious about how plastics are gonna affect the biosphere as a whole. This is a new form of material that is being introduced into the world at a, relatively on a geological level,
instantaneous pace. Assuming that nature isn’t gonna eat the plastic bullet, how is plastic going to be integrated into the whole biological system of Earth? This won’t be determined for thousands of years, and humanity might not make it through the transition. Still, can’t help but wonder, biological life as we know it could change in a way that it never has since it emerged.
bacteria and viruses because of their comparably fast rate of reproduction, multiple generations in minutes, will be the first to evolve to "deal" with the plastics, everything else will take thousands of years. It is likely in our lifetime that we may see bacteria and viruses that have evolved characteristics caused by microplastics.
Setting aside the man made horrors beyond our comprehension, I’m extremely curious about how plastics are gonna affect the biosphere as a whole. This is a new form of material that is being introduced into the world at a, relatively on a geological level, instantaneous pace. Assuming that nature isn’t gonna eat the plastic bullet, how is plastic going to be integrated into the whole biological system of Earth? This won’t be determined for thousands of years, and humanity might not make it through the transition. Still, can’t help but wonder, biological life as we know it could change in a way that it never has since it emerged.
This is like the George Carlin joke about the planet just using us to create plastic.
how else are the galaxy concurring octopi to get their elastic bones?
In Peter Watts novel blindsighted
spoiler
A book about first contact, the aliens have plastic skin and are, frankly, eldritch horrors
bacteria and viruses because of their comparably fast rate of reproduction, multiple generations in minutes, will be the first to evolve to "deal" with the plastics, everything else will take thousands of years. It is likely in our lifetime that we may see bacteria and viruses that have evolved characteristics caused by microplastics.