Life Beyond Biology: Perspectives on the Earth as an Organism

The idea that planet Earth can be considered as an organism is discussed in perspective. To this end, we provide a historical context for the concept of life, as well as a summary of important advances in planetary science. We show that autonomy, which has been described as the fundamental property of living organisms, is consistent with the operation of the whole planet coupling (WPC), which in turn describes the organization of the Earth. This leads us to explore the network of processes involved in the regulation of our planet from an innovative perspective, suggesting further interactions between its subsystems and new functions for the Earth's magnetic field (EMF). The realization that the definition of life is applicable to a system such as a planet then leads us to question the situation of life in the universe and the boundary between physics and physiology. Finding it blurred, we discuss the thermodynamic implications of a physiological universe.