The astrobiology of the anthropocene
Abstract
Human influence on the biosphere has been evident at least since the development of widespread agriculture, and some stratigraphers have suggested that the activities of modern civilization indicate a geological epoch transition. The study of the anthropocene as a geological epoch, and its implication for the future of energy-intensive civilizations, is an emerging transdisciplinary field in which astrobiology can play a leading role. Habitability research of Earth, Mars, and exoplanets examines extreme cases relevant for understanding climate change as a planetary process. Energy-intensive civilizations will also face thermodynamic limits to growth, which provides an important constraint for estimating the longevity of human civilization and guiding the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We recommend that missions concepts such as LUVOIR, HabEx, and OST be pursued in order to make significant progress toward understanding the future evolution of life on our planet and the possible evolution of technological, energy-intensive life elsewhere in the universe.
Citation
Haqq-Misra , J , Som , S , Mullan , B , Loureiro , R , Schwieterman , E , Seyler , L , Mogosanu , H , Frank , A , Wolf , E , Forgan , D , Cockell , C & Sullivan , W 2018 ' The astrobiology of the anthropocene ' . < http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018arXiv180100052H >
Type
Working or discussion paper
Rights
Copyright 2017 the Authors.
Description
A white paper on "Astrobiology Science Strategy" submitted to the National Academy of Sciences.Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Negative frequency at the horizon : scattering of light at a refractive index front
Jacquet, Maxime J. (University of St Andrews, 2017-12-07) - ThesisThis thesis considers the problem of calculating and observing the mixing of modes of positive and negative frequency in inhomogeneous, dispersive media. Scattering of vacuum modes of the electromagnetic field at a moving ... -
Enhancing associative memory recall and storage capacity using confocal cavity QED
Marsh, Brendan P.; Guo, Yudan; Kroeze, Ronen M.; Gopalakrishnan, Sarang; Ganguli, Surya; Keeling, Jonathan; Lev, Benjamin L. (2021-06-02) - Journal articleWe introduce a near-term experimental platform for realizing an associative memory. It can simultaneously store many memories by using spinful bosons coupled to a degenerate multimode optical cavity. The associative memory ... -
Electromagnetism in the Encyclopaedias
Falconer, Isobel Jessie (2022-10-01) - Journal article“Heat, Electricity and Magnetism… though very different, agree in some general characters” wrote the natural philosopher John Playfair in 1819 in his influential "Dissertation Second" for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His ...