Technosphere / Co-Evolution
Presented by Jürgen Renn and Manfred Laubichler
In order to begin to grasp the processes underlying the Anthropocene it is useful to reanalyze major changes in deep-time as well as historical time as the result of co-evolutionary dynamics and system transformations. While for most of Earth’s history the biosphere has been a continuous, highly active component we are now faced with the emergence of another sphere: the technosphere, a technology-based system that not only affects Earth surface processes but challenges us to think about the material, cognitive, and social dimensions of knowledge.
Developed by Jürgen Renn (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin), Manfred Laubichler (School of Life Sciences/ Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity at Arizona State University, Phoenix), Armin Reller (Lehrstuhl für Ressour-censtrategie, Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg), and Jan Zalasiewicz (Department of Geology, University of Leicester). See also the Campus seminar on “Technosphere / Co-Evolution”.
