- Lindeman argued that scientists had an overwhelming biocentric focus in the
sciences of the environment, and he therefore sought greater inclusion of abiotic
elements into ecosystem research. In other words, scientists have tended to focus on
large mammals when thinking about the ‘environment’ (e.g. some have argued that the
panda image of the WWF logo demonstrates this bias). We can even see this bias in
Voltaire’s Saturnian character (1752), who only saw ‘whales’ when first exploring the
earth. More recent research suggests that even within the biocentric bias, there are
further biases. Discuss how our perspective of ‘life’ has been strongly biased towards
complex lifeforms. Make specific reference to the key differences between prokaryotes
and eukaryotes. In your answer, try to reference how we have expanded beyond this
limited view to include other forms of life? How have our cosmological discoveries fueled
this expanded worldview? And, what do these questions say about the nature of life
itself? (NOTE: This is a very broad question, but there are very specific references to it in
the lectures – a full answer would refer to these sources).
Sample Solution