Anthropocene - Bryant McGill

# Anthropocene ## Definition **Anthropocene** names the period in which human activity has become a planetary force affecting climate, ecosystems, extinction and the material future of Earth. It also marks the first interval in which one species can intentionally redirect biological and technological evolution at planetary scale. ## Conceptual relationships [[wiki/Planetary Stewardship|Planetary Stewardship]] · [[wiki/Planetary Boundaries|Planetary Boundaries]] · [[wiki/Technological Evolution|Technological Evolution]] ## Martin Rees research route [[research/Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future|Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future]] supplies a primary quotation dossier connecting this concept to Rees's work on cosmology, technological risk, machine intelligence, posthuman evolution and deep time. ## Article and collection routes - [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts  > “Human societies could navigate these threats, achieve a sustainable future, and inaugurate eras of post-human evolution even more marvellous than what’s led to us. The dawn of the Anthropocene epoch would then mark a one-off transformation from a natural world to one where humans jump-start the transition to electronic (and potentially immortal) entities, that transcend our limitations and eventually spread their influence far beyond the Earth.” > **— Martin Rees**, *The Anthropocene epoch could inaugurate even more marvellous eras of evolution, The Guardian, 2016* [[reminders/Evolution/Humanity Could Inaugurate Immortal Electronic Evolution by Martin Rees|Humanity Could Inaugurate Immortal Electronic Evolution by Martin Rees]] > “We are living in the first century when the greatest risks come from human actions rather than from nature.” > **— Martin Rees**, *2006: What Is Your Dangerous Idea?, Edge, 2006* [[reminders/Existential Risk/Humanity Has Become Nature's Greatest Risk by Martin Rees|Humanity Has Become Nature's Greatest Risk by Martin Rees]] > “[The twenty-first century] is the first when one species, ours, can determine the planet’s future, threaten our civilization and jeopardize the existence of future generations.” > **— Martin Rees**, *Meet the Co-Founder of an Apocalypse Think Tank, Scientific American, 2015* [[reminders/Civilization/One Species Can Jeopardize Every Future Generation by Martin Rees|One Species Can Jeopardize Every Future Generation by Martin Rees]] > “From now on, the worst dangers come from us.” > **— Martin Rees**, *Can we prevent the end of the world?, TED, 2014* [[reminders/Existential Risk/Humanity Is Now Its Own Greatest Danger by Martin Rees|Humanity Is Now Its Own Greatest Danger by Martin Rees]]   > “This is the first century in those 45 million where one species—one dominant species, namely us—can control the planet’s future.” > **— Martin Rees**, *2017, Academy of Achievement interview* [[reminders/Civilization/One Species Now Holds the Planet’s Future by Martin Rees|One Species Now Holds the Planet’s Future by Martin Rees]]