THE BIOSPHERE AND NOOSPHERE READER Literally the ‘sphere of mind or intellect’, the noosphere is part of the realm of the possible in human affairs, where there is a conscious effort to tackle global issues. The history of this rich but poorly explored idea has significant contemporary resonance in understanding the evolution of human society and our position in the biosphere (the sphere of life). The noosphere concept captures a number of key contemporary issues—social evolution, global ecology, Gaia, deep ecology and global environmental change—contributing to ongoing debates concerning the implications of emerging technologies such as human-created biospheres and the Internet. This Reader is the first comprehensive history of the noosphere and biosphere. Drawing on classical influences, modern parallels and insights into the future, the Reader traces the emergence of the concepts of noosphere and biosphere within the context of environmental change. Reproducing material from seminal works, both past and present, the central ideas and key writings of many prominent thinkers are presented, including Bergson, Vernadsky, Lovelock, Margulis, Russell, Needham, Huxley, Medawar, Toynbee and Boulding. Extensive introductory pieces by the editors draw attention to common themes and competing ideas. The structure of the book focuses on issues of origins, theories, parallels and potential, relating to the noosphere and biosphere concepts. Discussion of origins places issues in a broad context, moving from the emergence of humans as a planetary agent of change to the articulation of specific theories about social evolution. Discussion on parallels compares and contrasts central concepts with those of the Gaia hypothesis, sustainability and global change. Discussion on the potential application of noospheric ideas to current debates about culture, education and technology explores such realms as the Internet, space colonisation, and the emergence of super-consciousness. The Biosphere and Noosphere Reader is an original contribution to an essential and highly topical debate which is likely to become even more relevant as we enter the twenty-first century. With significant portions of the material appearing here for the first time in English or gathered from inaccessible sources, this Reader offers a unique reference for a variety of scholars, teachers and others with an interest in current global dilemmas. Paul R.Samson is a Global Environmental Assessment Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. David Pitt is a consultant to the United Nations Environmental Programme, Geneva. THE BIOSPHERE AND NOOSPHERE READER Global environment, society and change Edited by Paul R.Samson and David Pitt with a foreword by Mikhail S.Gorbachev London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1999 Selection and editorial matter Paul R.Samson and David Pitt © 1999 Foreword Mikhail S.Gorbachev All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data The biosphere and noosphere reader: global environment, society and change/edited by Paul R.Samson and David Pitt. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Environmental policy-Social aspects. 2. Human ecology. 3. Biosphere. I. Samson, Paul R. II. Pitt, David. GE170.B56 1999 304.2-dc21 98–42866 ISBN 0-415-16644-6 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-16645-4 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-02444-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20137-X (Glassbook Format) CONTENTS List of boxes vii List of figures viii Foreword—Mikhail S.Gorbachev ix Preface xi Acknowledgements and sources xiii 1INTRODUCTION: SKETCHING THE NOOSPHERE 1 2 ORIGINS: THE BIOSPHERE AND THE NOOSPHERE 11 Introduction 11 George Perkins MarshMan and nature, or the Earth as modified by human action21 Eduard SuessThe Face of the Earth 22 Thomas C.Chamberlin and Rollin D.SalisburyGeology 23 Vladimir I.VernadskyGeochemistry 26 Alfred J.LotkaElements of physical biology 28 Jan Christiaan SmutsHolism and evolution 30 Vladimir I.VernadskyThe biosphere; Problems of biogeochemistry 35 G.Evelyn HutchinsonThe biosphere 39 Lynton K.CaldwellDiscovering the biosphere 41 Nicholas Polunin and Jacques GrinevaldVernadsky and biospheral ecology 44 Kenneth StokesMan and the biosphere 46 3THEORIES: THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF ‘NOOSPHERE’ 49 Introduction 49 Henri BergsonCreative evolution 57 Edouard Le RoyThe origins of humanity and the evolution of mind 60 Pierre Teilhard de ChardinThe phenomenon of man; The antiquity and world expansion of human culture 70 Julian S.HuxleyIntroduction to The Phenomenon of Man 80 Joseph NeedhamCosmologist of the future 85 Arnold J.ToynbeeVision of the unity 88 Peter B.MedawarReview, The Phenomenon of Man 89 George Gaylord SimpsonOn the remarkable testament of the Jesuit palaeontologist Teilhard de Chardin 93 Vladimir I.Vernadsky Scientific thought as a planetary phenomenon; The biosphere and the noosphere 94 vi CONTENTS 4 PARALLELS: GAIA AND GLOBAL CHANGE 101 Introduction 101 James Hutton Theory of the Earth 110 Svante Arrhenius On the influence of carbonic acid 111 Lawrence J.Henderson Fitness of the environment 113 James E.Lovelock Gaia as seen through the atmosphere; The Earth as a living organism 115 Lynn Margulis Jim Lovelock’s Gaia 120 Stephen H.Schneider Debating Gaia 122 Thomas F.Malone Global change 131 William C.Clark Sustainable development of the biosphere 134 Rafal Serafin Noosphere, Gaia and the science of the biosphere 136 5 POTENTIAL: THE FUTURE OF THE NOOSPHERE 141 Introduction 141 Thomas A.Goudge The ascent of life 150 Marshall McLuhan The Gutenberg galaxy 154 Theodosius Dobzhansky The biology of ultimate concern 155 Dorion Sagan Biospheres: metamorphosis of Planet Earth 158 Edward Goldsmith The way: an ecological world view 160 Richard Dawkins The selfish gene 163 Kenneth Boulding Ecodynamics: a new theory of societal evolution 165 Nikita N.Moiseev Reflection on the noosphere—humanism in our time 167 Gregory Stock Metaman: the merging of humans and machines into a global super-organism 176 Peter Russell The global brain awakens: our next evolutionary leap 177 6 EPILOGUE: THE NOOSPHERE AND CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL ISSUES 181 Bibliography 189 Index 197 LIST OF BOXES 2.1 The Earth’s spheres 13 2.2 Examples of organised hierarchies 14 2.3 Three definitions of the biosphere 18 2.4 Co-evolution 19 3.1 Selected works, Henri Bergson 50 3.2 Selected works, Edouard Le Roy 52 3.3 Selected works, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 53 3.4 Selected works, Vladimir I.Vernadsky 55 4.1 The Gaia hypothesis 102 4.2 Global change 106 4.3 Examples of international programmes for global change 108 4.4 Planetary atmospheres 121 4.5 The many faces of Gaia 128 5.1 Deep ecology 143 5.2 Biosphere 2 147 LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 The fourteen spheres of knowledge 12 2.2 The geosphere, biosphere and noosphere 13 2.3 The co-evolution of the noosphere and the biosphere 13 2.4 Schematic extent of the biosphere 17 3.1 Edouard Le Roy at work 51 3.2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in Asia during the early 1930s 53 3.3 Vladimir I.Vernadsky in in the 1930s 54 4.1 Frontispiece to Sachs von Lewenheimb’s Oceanus Macro-Microcosmicus 103 4.2 Global climate trends during the past 800,000 years 107 5.1 Biosphere 2 147 5.2 Springtime on Mars 148 6.1 The noosphere as a complementary, emergent mental/biological sphere 184 6.2 ‘Proverbs of Hell’ by William Blake from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 187 FOREWORD Each successive generation has a tendency practical terms. There has been no dramatic to believe itself living through a decisive step forward, and some would say we have turning point—a revolutionary moment—in gone backwards. In fact, it has become human history. The current one is certainly widely accepted that if we continue to no exception. Yet, as we enter the twentyfirst develop along our current trajectory, the century, we are witnessing the emergence of consequences may be irreversible changes the first truly global civilisation. It is a unique in the biosphere within a few decades, pos- era in the history of humankind, not only due sibly including the extermination of human to the wondrous material achievements that beings. Indeed, Homo sapiens has likely span our world but equally for the profound already overdrawn nature’s credit line. There risks inherent in such success. Paradoxically, can be no challenge to the objective and like the period during the French Revolution immutable laws of our biosphere. The described in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, choice for society is clear, and we have not we live, simultaneously, in the best and much time to act: we either simply float in worst of times. It is an era where our techno- rudderless existence and face the grim pros- logical grasp extends into the farthest pect of scarcity, degradation or worse, or, reaches of our world—from the quantum having drawn our conclusions, undertake level to outer space—yet we do not fully the necessary first steps to change our master or comprehend the consequences of course. our touch. As a society, we tend not to look When we speak about living within the before we leap, and we employ technology limits set by the biosphere, I do not believe to very different, often contradictory, ends.