The Growth and Differentiation of Metabolism: Extended Evolutionary Dynamics in the Technosphere
By going through the transitions in cell evolution and energy regimes, evolutionary biologist Manfred Laubichler explains the dynamics behind the formation of the metabolic activity and complexity of our planet. (...)
Sitting On Top of the World: Meridional Media, Arctic Condescension, and Northern Techniques
Jamie Allen’s writings map the relations, tensions, and collusions between material and knowledge infrastructures and actual and modelled ecologies, and Merle Ibach prepares images to accompany these. (...)
The Lena Is Worthy of Baikal: Defining Remoteness Across the North and the East
Inspired by the Lena River Delta in northern Siberia, Ksenia Tatarchenko reflects on filmic dramatizations of far-off and inaccessible places, capturing the role Soviet modernity had in establishing interconnection in isolation. (...)
Ecospheres: Model and Laboratory for Earth's Environment
Historian of science Sabine Höhler explores the technoscientific motives and consequences of experimenting with self-contained ecospheres. (...)
The Origin of the Idea of Material and Life Cycles in the Ancient Cosmos of Concentric Spheres
Historian of science Pietro Daniel Omodeo unpacks spheres from their context in ancient and early modern cosmology and metaphysical doctrine. (...)
Vladimir Vernadsky and the Co-evolution of the Biosphere, the Noosphere, and the Technosphere
How does the current notion of “spheres” infiltrate thinking about the bio-techno-sphere, which today seems the best descriptive model for our own habitat? (...)
Anthropocene Lecture - Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
How do we find new forms of coexistence in the landscapes of the Anthropocene? (...)
Changes in Fluvial Systems, River Sediments and Deltas
Geologist and oceanographer James Syvitski maps how human modification of the world’s hydrological system continues to accelerate, how deltas are starved of sediment due to dam building, and how wetlands are lost and coasts retreat. (...)
China's “Blue Territory” and the Technosphere in Maritime East Asia
Andrew Chubb maps the complex space of maritime East Asia, tying together land rights, historical geopolitics, and the creation of artificial islands that construct it. (...)
Port Cities: Nodes in the Global Petroleumscape between Sea and Land
Historian of architecture and urbanism Carola Hein investigates the establishment, transformation, and future of the global petroleumscape. (...)
Rivers, Coasts, and the Geographical Dimensions of Patent Innovation
Levees and dams form the fluvial geography of the technosphere. Landscape architect Richard Hindle shows how patents have historically catalyzed the establishment of these formations. (...)
The Alternative Futures Approach – Modelling the Unthinkable
The technosphere is running in scenario mode. In this introductory lecture, media theorist Sebastian Vehlken picks five exemplary historical scenes to explain how scenario modeling has become a basic function in mediating future crisis. (...)