ABSTRACT
It is usual to deal with technology and technological systems at many scales, but it is perhaps too seldom that we stand back and evaluate what humans, as toolmakers, have really created: the anthropogenic Earth, a planet where technology systems and their associated cultural, economic—and, indeed, theological—dimensions increasingly determine the evolution of both human and natural systems. A principal result of the Industrial Revolution and associated changes in human demographics, technology systems, cultures, and economic systems has been the evolution of a planet increasingly defined by the activity of one species: ours. Although it is apparent that in many cases we do not even perceive this to be the case—indeed, powerful discourses such as environmentalism are predicated on mental models that preclude such perception—and we certainly don’t know how to think about such a planet, it is equally clear that the evolution of complex patterns of technology and society, which have been going on for centuries, have called forth something that is indeed new: the human Earth. Once that is recognized, it becomes increasingly dysfunctional, and arguably unethical, not to strive toward a higher level of rationality and morality in managing the Earth than we have yet achieved. Continued resiliency of both human and natural systems will require development of the ability to rationally and ethically engineer and manage coupled human-natural systems in a highly integrated fashion—an Earth Systems Engineering and Management (ESEM) capability. 1
