From symbiogenesis to the Truth Movement

“Lynn Margulis: The Life and Legacy of a Scientific Rebel” isn't a biography of the controversial scientist, but rather a volume containing a number of relatively short tributes written by friends, co-workers and admirers. The collection is edited by Dorion Sagan, Lynn's eldest son from her first marriage. Yes, her husband was none other than Carl Sagan.

Margulis is most known for her theory of “symbiogenesis”, the idea that evolutionary change is driven by symbiotic mergers of two or more organisms, or by lateral gene transfer between completely unrelated organisms, rather than by more “classical” Neo-Darwinist mechanisms. Today, it's widely accepted that mitochondria and chloroplasts are descended from bacteria which entered a symbiotic relationship with bacteria of a different species. Margulis and her supporters want to go even further, in effect dethroning gradual natural selection and random mutations altogether as primary evolutionary mechanisms. Thus, Margulis loved to point out that the only empirically proven instances of speciation in a lab involved symbiogenesis, including a Drosophila (fruit fly) being “infected” by bacteria! On a more general level, her point was always that everything should be seen in terms of process, intricate webs and self-regulating systems. Complexity, it seems, was around from the very start, already during the era of bacteria.

Lynn Margulis had other controversial ideas, too. She was a “woman of the Left”, a supporter of Fidel Castro's Cuba, denied that HIV caused AIDS, and eventually came to believe in the conspiracy theories of the Truth Movement. Her turn to the dark side came under the influence of David Ray Griffin. During the 1960's, she explored LSD and wrote in a psychedelic magazine. Above all, however, Margulis was the co-originator of the much maligned Gaia theory alongside James Lovelock. While Margulis' theories were non-partisan by themselves, symbiogenesis and Gaia theory are easier to square with a “collectivist” or “cooperative” perspective on society, while Neo-Darwinism seems to reflect competitive capitalism or worse. Of course, Gaia theory has become a New Age staple, despite Margulis and (I suppose) Lovelock being agnostics or atheists. Less controversially, Lynn Margulis wrote on the poetry of Emily Dickinson (Lynn actually lived near the Dickinson estate).

Unsurprisingly, the contributors to this Gedenkschrift are very varied. Some are solid scientists and emphasize that Gaia theory is wholly naturalistic and non-teleological. Others are more into shamanism and other spiritual pursuits. Still others talk more about Margulis' politics than her strictly scientific endeavors. Everyone bashes Richard Dawkins, who once called the confrontational and verbose Lynn Margulis “Attila the hen”. Ironically, Dorion Sagan has managed to procure a positive blurb from the very same Dawkins! Notable contributors include William Irwin Thompson, David Ray Griffin, James Lovelock, Niles Eldredge, David Abram, and Lynn Margulis herself (posthumously).

Unfortunately, most contributions are fairly short and only skim the surface of things. Still, it's interesting that this book exists at all. To the general public, Lynn Margulis is almost unknown. Both Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould managed to promote themselves better. Perhaps this book could serve as a kind of “teaser trailer” to the broader Margulis problematique.

Finally, I love the photos in this book, especially the photo showing Lovelock and Margulis standing in front of a Gaia statue…in Lovelock's own garden! Funny, considering all their denials that Gaia theory has anything to do with religion and spirituality! ;-)