Paper short abstract:

Neologisms abound in the Anthropocene. Consider the Technosphere, the theme for HKWs latest anthroposalon. One of us finds the term inspiring, the other regressive. Here, we perform a version of our long debate surrounding our collaboration in the Technosphere Edition of HKW’s Anthropocene Campus.

Paper long abstract:

Neologisms abound in the Anthropocene. Consider the "technosphere," proposed by environmental scientist Peter Haff as a new Earth-systems "paradigm" on par with the lithosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. The technosphere — defined as the "the interlinked set of communication, transportation, bureaucratic and other systems that act to metabolize fossil fuels and other energy resources" — helps account for emergent effects of planetary-scale technological systems in the Anthropocene. Haff's neologism rapidly escaped the confines of Earth system science, most recently as the theme for the Haus der Kulturen der Welt's 2016 edition of its Anthropocene Campus.

The technosphere concept seems calculated to give STS scholars heartburn. Though it ostensibly includes "human components," it still portrays technology as autonomous and self-regulating, with needs and powers of its own. It's not just that the concept leaves no room for politics: its elaboration explicitly sidelines politics as a form of whack-a-mole, a kind of agency impotent to rein in the technosphere's blind voracity. How can this move be anything other than regressive? Yet there is something intriguing about treating technological systems as metabolisms. And STS discourses and methods seem ill-equipped to address such large-scale concerns. So maybe the technosphere is good to think with? Or at least to fight about?

Here, we offer an abbreviated version of our year-long argument about these issues, prompted by our collaboration in the Anthropocene Campus. Mirroring its conditions of production, we will perform our argument as a kitchen debate in three stages (before, during, and after the Campus).