WHAT IS THE TECHNOSPHERE? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The technosphere is the name given to a new artificial layer of the earth's surface that is constantly growing and has been originated by the exclusive action of human beings. It constitutes a great system made up of all the objects that human beings have been creating, from monuments, factories, airports, streets and bridges, to little things like books, clothes, cars, computers and cell phones.

The technosphere has been seen as a space where culture and life are generated and the communicative and social interrelations that people establish in their day to day are manifested, with technology being a vital aspect within it.

The existence of the technosphere responds to the constant need for consumption and the capacity for technical and artistic creation present in the human being, which transforms natural resources to satisfy their needs.

The technosphere is also defined as the entire set of artificial media that support the development of society, and that interacts in an analogous way with the biosphere by exerting action on the environment to create new agricultural, industrial and urban landscapes making use of the technology.

Origin of the technosphere

The term was coined in 2014 by Professor Peter Haff, a specialist in geology and civil environmental engineering at Duke University. For Haff, the technosphere constitutes a new emerging global paradigm that defines the presence of a new layer of the planet.

This "layer" would be constituted by the interrelation of elements such as communication, transportation, bureaucracy and other systems that act together to metabolize fossil fuels and other energy sources with the purpose of building new spaces and objects.

The author defines the technosphere as a global techno-social energy consuming system formed by human beings and all the artifacts and technological systems invented together with the protocols and information created. It consists of a combination of humanity and technology.

The technosphere includes each and every one of the structures that man has designed, such as buildings, tracks and bridges, along with small creations such as gadgets, computers, clothes and books.

This artificial layer of the earth's surface, in turn, contains all the waste, garbage and debris that man generates as a result of his human activities of an industrial, mining and domestic nature.

In general, all natural environment altered by man is also part of the technosphere.

Basic aspects that constitute the technosphere

Human capital

Human capital is understood as the entire set of networks, norms and organizations that human beings build based on relationships of trust and reciprocity, which contribute to the development and well-being of society.

Social and human capital is the ability of people to come together to act and meet social needs in a coordinated way and for mutual benefit.

It is thanks to human capital and the interest in improving people's quality of life that society as a whole builds and designs new things and spaces.

The technology

It encompasses the set of knowledge and techniques that human beings use to design and create different goods and services that satisfy social needs.

Technology makes up the set of systematic actions that aim to transform things.

That is why technology constitutes an essential part of the technosphere, as it is a tool that allows human beings to modify their environment, and at the same time encourages them to continue building and creating new devices and devices that are more modern every day.

Technology accompanied by globalization and the capitalist accumulation system are the ones who build the gecnosphere day after day.

Relationship of the technosphere with the Anthropocene

The appearance of the technosphere is closely related to the current geological era that is being lived; the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene is the era of the Earth from 1950 to today, in which the global impact of human activities on the Earth's ecosystem is increasingly important.

It is estimated that the Anthropocene arose from before 1950 with the Industrial Revolution, when the development of industries and the beginning of the capitalist mode of production, encouraged man to use the renewable and non-renewable resources of the planet to build modern society such and as it is known today.

The result of this behavior typical of the Anthropocene has been the technosphere, which constitutes a human legacy where the advanced use of tools has allowed us to modify the environment to create spaces using technology.

Impact of the technosphere on the environment

Although the technosphere can be seen as a cluster of human and technological advances, this layer of the earth's surface does not carry out an adequate self-recycling system as the biosphere does.

That is why the technosphere is degrading the environment and today in it are the remains of the rapid multiplication of the number of human beings and their technical creations at a global level.

Experts indicate that these remains have already transcended the concept of "deposit", becoming even a whole geological stratum full of techno-fossils that are causing a dead weight on planet earth.

According to a study by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, if all urban and rural structures are added, plus the vehicles, machines, electronic devices, products, garments that have been created, and their waste, a total weight would be obtained 30 trillion tons. And that's roughly what the technosphere weighs.

Furthermore, if all the components that make up the technosphere were evenly distributed over the entire surface of the planet, we would be talking about 50 kilograms per square meter.

References

1. Armiño, K. and Alberdi, J. Capital stock. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from dicc.hegoa.ehu.es
2. Biosphere and Technosphere: two metabolisms in the world. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from ecointeligencia.com
3. Furness, D. (2016). Earth's Technosphere is massive and could mean problems for the planet. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from digitaltrends.com
4. Haff, F. Co-evolution of the Technosphere. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from anthropocene-curriculum.org
5. Hance, J. (2015). How humans are driving the sixth mass extintion. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from theguardian.com
6. Humans and technology in the Anthropocene: six rules. Retrieved on August 23, 2017 from sagepub.com