6
Every invention comes from the rational impulse to address a real human need.
Each thing we synthesize from natural elements, then use and dispose of, comprises
and then “lives” in the technosphere, the sum total result of all human activity on the
planet. We constantly remove and transform elements from the ecosphere. We harness the embodied energy of animals, plants, and minerals for our own use every
day. The instant we tap any biological, geological, hydrological, or atmospheric
element as a resource to make something, it begins its own artificial life cycle that
ends when it either gets repurposed or eventually completely “metabolized” by
natural forces back into the ecosphere.
1.3.3 The Holocene (11,700 Years)
Over approximately the last 12,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age that
roughly defines the Holocene Period, icy glaciers retreated and human civilization
flourished. As human populations grew, migrated, and permanently occupied an
increasingly ice-free world, so did human ideas and technology. Individual inventions multiplied and coalesced into two intertwined parts of our technosphere. One
is composed of supportive and useful objects, the celebrated inventions that make
life safer and more comfortable; the other is the sum total of what we have tried,
unsuccessfully, to throw away, our waste.
We are all now dependent on massive and inherently complex systems built to
support and improve human life. As appealing as it may be to some, there is no
quick transition to simply stop and go back to “a simpler world” devoid of modern
technology without increasing physical suffering and shortening the lives of most
people living today. Watching what happens when the power goes off for a week or
even a few days in our metropolitan areas gives insight to the difficulties that arise.
Without the energy and communication infrastructure on which civilization has
come to rely, it can mean the difference between life and death for some (Anderson
and Bell 2012) Rather than attempting to radically eschew complexity and its inherent challenges and contradictions, the key to our surviving and prospering on this
planet is our continuous and successful technological adaptation to changing
conditions.
This is not to say that all technology is inherently good (or bad) or that we can
suspend thoughtful judgment on the long-term implications of our actions. The
technosphere is now inextricably woven into the structure of the ecosphere. It is
now an artificial “second nature” to those of us who depend on its systems to support our habits and choices concerning where and how we live in a contingent and
uncertain world.
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits
Every invention comes from the rational impulse to address a real human need.
Each thing we synthesize from natural elements, then use and dispose of, comprises
and then “lives” in the technosphere, the sum total result of all human activity on the
planet. We constantly remove and transform elements from the ecosphere. We harness the embodied energy of animals, plants, and minerals for our own use every
day. The instant we tap any biological, geological, hydrological, or atmospheric
element as a resource to make something, it begins its own artificial life cycle that
ends when it either gets repurposed or eventually completely “metabolized” by
natural forces back into the ecosphere.
1.3.3 The Holocene (11,700 Years)
Over approximately the last 12,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age that
roughly defines the Holocene Period, icy glaciers retreated and human civilization
flourished. As human populations grew, migrated, and permanently occupied an
increasingly ice-free world, so did human ideas and technology. Individual inventions multiplied and coalesced into two intertwined parts of our technosphere. One
is composed of supportive and useful objects, the celebrated inventions that make
life safer and more comfortable; the other is the sum total of what we have tried,
unsuccessfully, to throw away, our waste.
We are all now dependent on massive and inherently complex systems built to
support and improve human life. As appealing as it may be to some, there is no
quick transition to simply stop and go back to “a simpler world” devoid of modern
technology without increasing physical suffering and shortening the lives of most
people living today. Watching what happens when the power goes off for a week or
even a few days in our metropolitan areas gives insight to the difficulties that arise.
Without the energy and communication infrastructure on which civilization has
come to rely, it can mean the difference between life and death for some (Anderson
and Bell 2012) Rather than attempting to radically eschew complexity and its inherent challenges and contradictions, the key to our surviving and prospering on this
planet is our continuous and successful technological adaptation to changing
conditions.
This is not to say that all technology is inherently good (or bad) or that we can
suspend thoughtful judgment on the long-term implications of our actions. The
technosphere is now inextricably woven into the structure of the ecosphere. It is
now an artificial “second nature” to those of us who depend on its systems to support our habits and choices concerning where and how we live in a contingent and
uncertain world.
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits