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Read other letters about this article
Look to the Taoists...
I think this is a case of bad definition. "Balance" can mean many things to many people, and in the context of ecology, it can mean stasis, which is probably what the academics are trying to fight off - the perception that a balanced ecology is a static ecology.
I would replace the idea of "balance" with that of "harmony." Life is in a state of harmony on Earth - living things act and react, cooperate and compete, predate and prey each other. Man's use of resources, our migrations, our herding and agriculture, all of that, adds to the music of the biosphere.
In Tai Qi, one may lose their balance, but still remain in harmony with their opponent.
"Evolution needs no creator, for the creative act is built into the system, which applies natural selection to random genetic mutation."
On the contrary - if there were no Creator, then whence that which is acted upon by evolution?
