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Total fertility rates vs. GDP per capita (2009). Throughout the world fertility rate has dropped below replacement level in developed socio-economies. In the future, an economy built on principles of sustainable abundance could lead to the whole world dropping below replacement level. Source: CIA world factbook
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Big historians are attempting to construct a general holistic narrative of human origins enabling an approach to studying the emergence of complexity, the relation between evolutionary processes, and the modern context of human experience and actions. In this paper I attempt to explore the past and future of cosmic evolution within a big historical...
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... The "noosphere" becomes a "meta-system transition" here that is explained through revolutions in our scientific and philosophical machinery of sense-making. More recently, philosopher Cadell Last has further elaborated on these ideas and introduced the more specific term "human meta-system transition" (Last, 2017). ...
This article analyses the “subject” as a cybernetic process driven by animation’s urge towards a “transcendental ideal:” an absolute of “survival,” “consciousness” and “freedom” that completes and transcends our spatiotemporally limited, causally compatible experience of “vitality,” “awareness” and “agency.” The dual nature of subjective awareness made of awareness of a subject (“self”) and awareness of an object (“outer world”) results in an “antinomy” (contradiction or paradox) in the mind’s construction of reality: both subject and object must and cannot be substantial. Practically, this antagonism of a bilateral claim to absoluteness leads to a struggle between the subject’s law to emerge and the object’s law to fall apart. Instinctively and analytically, all subjectivity is inherently “urged” to overcome this “antinomy.” Through the work that the subject thus performs on the object, local organisms interlink and higher levels of subjectivity, i.e., awareness and agency, can emerge from organization and connectivity. However, the idea that the subject is thus striving towards appears from the split of subjective being from the objective world in animation and emergence. As an “antinomy of practical reason” causing a “transcendental ideal,” it resides in the phenomenal structure of subjective perception alone. In analogy to Kant’s “antinomy of pure reason,” it is a mirage of the mind that perceives and the “urge” it causes in subjective being is an “inevitable illusion” of animation.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Modern society derives its strength from the design of institutions and technological instruments. Expert systems and advances in science require a critical analysis. In our age, the imprint of culture is apparent in the tools that make possible the present way of life. It is important to emphasize that technology is meant to serve the public good – a moral claim that must extend to global health – which is a realization that is brought about by the coronavirus crisis. Vulnerable communities suffer from the lack of means to respond to the present public health emergency. The gaps are clear. By tracing the background of the development of modern civilizations, the hegemonic order of the world is revealed. This study explores how integrating modern technological systems into the moral and socio-economic dimension of the community can empower people in a post-pandemic world.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Bioethics is the love of life (Macer, 1998), and is the construction of all the decisions that we make across the entire planet. This collection of writings involving bioethical deliberations of situations, actions, events and policies that affect human wellbeing and fitness of the environment may at times appear to value more people in positions of authority for policy making, but it is the accumulated individual choices and actions that shape our planet. The way forward to align both improvements in human wellbeing whilst safeguarding all life and the natural environment are less subjects for debate which divides and polarizes opinion but should catalyse discussion and dialogue that unites parties. Many of the readers of this book will not be in positions of direct responsibility to make difficult policy decisions. However, we can all contribute to this discussion, and increasingly we can see that in many countries citizens can exert influence at different levels of governance and advocate for all stakeholders, and thus promote more ethical decision making.
The term “Planetary Health” has arisen within the last decade, and could be viewed as just another buzz word, but it clearly signifies concern for the wellbeing of Earth itself and by implication that includes all within the biosphere. Although the recognition that the natural environment has significant impact on human health has been voiced for at least thirty years since the WHO Commission on Health and 5 Planetary Health and Bioethics Environment (1992) published their report Our planet, our health. Yet declines in biodiversity, rising average global temperatures, soil degradation, deforestation, ocean acidification etc. etc. have continued unabated. Indeed, the human population alone has increased by more than 50% since that report was published.
There are diverse causes, impacts and approaches to improve both human health and the wellbeing of the living natural systems we are an integral part of. This book contains a selection of writings that reflect this diversity. As Sam Myers (2021) of the Planetary Health Alliance says, “It is not just climate change; It is everything change.” This is reminiscent of the WHO (1992) report that identified population, urbanization, poverty, resource use, macroeconomic frameworks, food production and agricultural systems, water management, industrialization and energy generation and consumption as all impacting on human health. To address this diversity there are contributions in this volume from writers around the world many of whom have extensive experience. Collectively they reflect a breadth of expertise including industry, governmental and academia – medical ethicists, environmentalists, education workers, energy researchers, agriculturists and health professionals. The collection in this book sheds some light onto a range of issues and makes some insightful recommendations for workable ways forward, that include ethical implications necessary to fully engage the actors involved. The initial chapters of this text include a transcript of an online discussion between two graduates from an online planetary health course. The second is a call for action on human population control, which in the authors opinion is often omitted or glossed over in debate and there is little policy directly addressing the fact that overpopulation puts enormous strain on natural resources and the environment. These two chapters give some insight into how some very different, but typical members of the public, perceive both planetary health issues and bioethics. The format of the remaining collection of essays, case studies and papers is divided into four sections: Bioethical principles; People and the environment; Hazards from the environment; and Moving forward.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
An introduction the planetary health background and how bioethics has developed to include ethical considerations of all bio or living organisms.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Both authors are originally from the UK. Naomi lives and works in the Netherlands and Alex is working in Thailand. During the Covid-19 pandemic they were in conservation using an online chat platform. They both, independently, studied the Telessaúde Support Foundation of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul distance learning course. This massive open online course (MOOC) is designed for undergraduate or graduate students, health professionals, and any individuals who are interested in the topic of planetary health. It was created with the belief that education is a human right; to be free and accessible to all. Available at: https:// www.ufrgs.br/telessauders/documentos/step_by_step.pdf
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Many governments such as the UK and some countries within the European Union are evaluating the potential of Nature-based Systems (NbS) to help meet international agreements. According to the UNEP present challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and human health are likely to be met at lower cost over the longer term by employing NbS rather than using conventional technical approaches. Establishing and maintaining both rural and urban hedges is just one example of how NbS can be an affordable low tech approach that not only increases carbon capture through photosynthesis but simultaneously provides many other benefits both to human health and also nature as a whole. Although hedgerows are not an ecosystem as such they do provide vital habitats and support many ecosystem services. Hedgerows contribute to providing functions including promoting soil health and reducing water runoff, habitats and food for a diverse range of species including pollinators, provision of field boundaries whilst acting as pathways or green corridors, food and material resources, shelter from wind that reduces soil erosion and organic carbon storage. Within the UK in 2019 the Climate Change Committee (CCC) advocated increasing hedgerows alongside other methods of carbon capture. In the report Net Zero: The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming it recommended planting 200 000 km of hedgerows and a pilot subsidy scheme is due to start before 2022. This chapter explores the benefits and feasibility of using hedgerows as NbS for carbon capture to reduce biodiversity decline and improve human health. There is also some discussion of the possibility to engage citizen scientists in hedgerow monitoring and management.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Citizen science has increased during recent decades from participatory data collection, to developing research questions and methodologies, analyzing results, reporting outcomes and recommending actions. Projects cover a very wide range including; simple species observations and ecological and biodiversity assessments, environmental monitoring such as air and water quality, epidemiological surveys, food consumption and agricultural process evaluations. The findings from citizen science has been used to inform nature conservation practices urban planning decisions, agricultural and health policies. This paper reviews the major benefits and pitfalls of citizen science, with particular reference to some ethical issues. It draws some comparisons to community education and proposes some recommendations for promoting more citizen engaged research in bioethics projects to promote planetary health.
... If a-technogenesis would be the only cosmic path of evolution, how would we know it? (Brooks, 2017); (Last, 2017) ...
Mining is a vital part of the global economy, providing minerals and metals, employment and supporting infrastructure development. It can however cause health problems for humans and ecosystems. Tin is one such metal, used mainly for solder in printed circuit boards (PCBs) and as a coating for canned-food packaging. The market for tin has rapidly grown in recent years as it is used in both the PCBs and screens of smart phones. The extraction of the tin bearing minerals, mainly cassiterite that is itself a stable mineral with relatively low toxicity, often happens in hazardous conditions and due to poor management there is consequential environmental damage due to mining processes. Environmental damage by erosion, deforestation in protected areas, resulting in biodiversity loss and water pollution is often linked to artisanal and small-scale mining. Radioactive minerals such as monazite are often obtained as by-products of tin mining or may be left as waste in mining sites. This has been linked to deaths connected to the high level of radiation from monazite-rich sand that was used for the construction of the houses for people who were unaware of the risks to radiation from these materials. This chapter explores the extent of this issue in a selection of countries, the level of exposure and some possible pathways of radiation into food chains. There are recommendations of how to address this through in-depth quality community education as well a call for rethinking our consumption patterns and models of economic growth.
... Theorizing a "Human Meta-System Transition" (HMST) (Last, 2017) to a "Global Brain" (GB) (Heylighen, 2011;Heylighen & Lenartowicz, 2017;Russell, 1983), one should perhaps start out by looking at the individual brain. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that no two neurons are the same here (Markram, 2006;McConnell et al., 2017). ...
... Attempts to connect disciplines into a broader picture have been made lately with the "Big History" approach (e.g. Last, 2017). Francis Heylighen, proposed the first algorithms to make the web self-organize to overcome the problem of scattered information in the GB (Heylighen, 1999). ...
... As always in theory, the possibilities are rather to be seen as poles (extremes) that offer a wide array of in-betweens. Last, 2015Last, , 2017. Today, the individual is obviously not sufficient for ensuring future progress any longer. ...
This paper attempts to show how the inherent structure of human becoming is evolutionarily determined to work toward a “meta-system transition” to a higher order of control with a growing risk of extinction as humanity approaches the “event horizon.” The “double helix” of progress technological and social caused manifold cultural surface structures according to the law of increasing entropy, which, however, are mechanically determined to reunite following the same law. Separate individual centers of cybernetic processing thus gradually turn themselves into discursive (“neural”) units, possibly collapsing into a super-conscious single will once information transmission in the network reaches a certain density and noise decreases below a certain threshold.
