Re:biosphere NOT a failure? (Score 1)

You are correct in thinking that biosphere is not a failure. It is true that they were not able to completely realize their stated goals, but it has, and is providing a cornucopia of scientific knowledge! One of Biosphere 2's more recent experiments involves global warming. Scientists are finding out how increases in atmospheric CO2 levels can be offset by selected plant life.

I think it is a tragedy that so many people (slash doters included) are comparing Eden's garden greenhouse to Biosphere 2's scientific experiments in prolonged space exploration, human psychology environmental science, and other disciples.

A quote from Eden's web site, "Eden is not here to add more papers to unread scientific literature." This doesn't sound very scientific to me.

Here is another, rather long, quote from Eden; it blew me away because it shows that not only are they not conducting scientific research but they are actually anti-science: "A root cause of environmental destruction is specialist training, in which all disciplines, and within them subdisciplines, are taught as separate, unrelated subjects. This is a fundamental reason why our mental models of reality so rarely correspond to the territory supposedly being mapped.... We are preoccupied with the intellectually fashionable rather than the real world.... We need to reward scientists for solving big, difficult problems not just simple, little problems which lead to elegant, esoteric journal articles."

In effect what the above quote means is that Eden has used advanced technology created by countless scientists and has constructed a monument to the ideas that science is futile and bad for the environment.

It's just a greenhouse with a political agenda. It's popular because it's big.