In what way is it new age whackery? In his book Novacene he describes it non-mystically; a planet with two kinds of daisy. As the planet cools, the dark petalled daisy thrives and absorbs light and radiates heat into the atmosphere. The atmosphere warms. The dark daisy doesn't do so well in warmth, the pale daisy thrives. It reflects sunlight before it can be turned to heat. The planet cools. The dark daisy blooms. The daisys adjust the planetary environment and temperature through feedback loops, not through new-age whackery or Mother Nature/deity intelligent planning.
He comments that such a thing happens on Earth and that if we were looking at Earth from outside, we would think it uninhabited because it is too close to the Sun to be in the Goldilocks Zone and appears too hot, radiating too much heat - but it's the radiating of all that heat which is what keeps Earth cool enough for life.
(And that it's the feedback systems which are old, inflexible and stretching past their limits which is going to cause life problems with overheating).
I was assuming the poster I was responding to would be sceptical of the idea, so I was saying 'you'll not agree with this, but as you read more and think it through it'll make more and more sense'.
It didn't come across very well, and i'm certainly not suggesting the idea has no merit, which is why I raised it in the first place!
He comments that such a thing happens on Earth and that if we were looking at Earth from outside, we would think it uninhabited because it is too close to the Sun to be in the Goldilocks Zone and appears too hot, radiating too much heat - but it's the radiating of all that heat which is what keeps Earth cool enough for life.
(And that it's the feedback systems which are old, inflexible and stretching past their limits which is going to cause life problems with overheating).