BIG07.THE TECHNOOSPHERE

BIG07.THE TECHNOOSPHERE

“This is one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” - Neil Armstrong

What is the technoosphere?
BIG outline: In the movie 'The Matrix' Neo asks the question "What is the Matrix?" and this BIG asks a different, BIGGER question, What is the technoosphere? We need an updated theory of technology in the light of expression and that begins by being clear what me mean by primordial, and proto-tools and the vast technologies that humans developed through the Expressive (not evolutionary) process. There is a real danger for naturalists and evolutionary theorists who would crudely clump all technology as 'tool-making'. This is anti-knowledge, and in understanding how the technoosphere emerged, brick by brick, bolt by bolt, book by book, and broadband line by broadband line, we can see clearer how the technoosphere works, and in the process see how culture works through the medium of technology. Culture still operates through art, sport, interaction, etc, but by sharpening our focus on technology in this BIG we can see that rather than survival of the fittest, the human species is more survival of the fixest, in our technological expression. 

Following on from the previous BIG about our species name, we already have Homo faber (man the maker), Homo mechanicus, Homo technologicus, Homo sapiens technologicus, Homo technicus, and Homo interneticus describing ways of being human in this area. These are not differences and categories of biological change, but our developing cultural biography through to the emergence of the technoosphere. The twittersphere, for example, is a word (and sign of /as ‘the times’) officially recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary. This is only a very small part of the technoosphere, one of several human spheres of activity and influence. The term technoosphere is a blend of technology, and Vernadsky/Teilhard’s noosphere. (the sphere of human thought) and is a cultural contrast to the biosphere. The technoosphere can help us understand the ebb and flow of culture through technology in an accessible way. Whether you are reading this on a mobile phone, laptop, PC or tablet you are part of the technoosphere right now, as am I.

BIG outcome: Understanding how culture works is tricky and really challenging. By understanding how the technoosphere developed we can get a more sophisticated understanding of how culture works, and how human technology and more generally the expressive process extends us from the natural world. Different but not detached. Technology allows us to over-ride nature to an incredible level. We can edit genomes now in a way that nature can't, which added to the vast surgical technologies we have means we really can be said “to play God”. By understanding the wired and wireless technoosphere, we can understand culture through the wired (mind), and wireless (of culture) all around us. The radio waves, air waves and wi-fi of the technoosphere, and how this BIG outlines their operation, provides a powerful in-road into an awareness of culture as a feel'd all around us. These technological “webs of significance” are what Max Weber (famous sociology guy) wrote of, later echoed by Clifford Geertz (clever anthropologist guy). The technoosphere is so ubiquitious it feels like second nature, almost like we don't need to question it because it feels so normal, even natural. Critical thinking demands that we do just that and in doing so we can see the emergence of an entire technological dimension beyond nature, with all manner of good and bad consequences. We're in charge of its charge and taking responsibility for its effects is aided by the understanding this BIG illuminates.