Sunday, January 27, 2008

[of] note.

i'm trying to figure out the relationship, conceptually and etymologically, between 'space' and 'capacity' (spacious. capacious. spacacity? capace?) and it's slow slow slow going as always, but i just found this: "space isn't remote at all. it's only an hours drive away if your car could go straight upwards." it reminded me about something else i'd read-- about how (sort of obviously, i guess) the oxygen is richer just around leaves, so there's this little sliver of biota that makes its whole life in these thin bands of superoxygenated air, little flat earths with their own atmosphere. all roads lead to fractals.

1 comment:

morphogen said...

A very interesting point you raise. We are hardly aware about how preciously thin the layer is in which ALL life exists. Despite the large size of the Earth, all life exists in a thin layer of soil, water and air, right on the surface, like a thin skin. This layer, called the biosphere, extends from less that 7 miles below sea level, to 11 miles above sea level. That's an 18 mile thick skin of life, on a rock with a radius of 4000 miles! That's only 0.5% of the Earth's radius. A thin skin of life pressed between cold space and sterile rock and magma.