Bios Asserts Itself Through Human Systems

[This is a rough outline I'm working with to frame a forthcoming article series...]

The Industrial Revolution emerged from a mechanistic world view and a scientific method that focused on isolated, ideal systems. This clockwork methodology enabled the rapid construction of the modern world yet masked the systemic impacts of industrial growth. The consequences of this mechanized, replacement-part philosophy have been wrought across living systems, eroding the natural environment and threatening human welfare, often to the reward of the most aggressive and self-serving. Yet the unavoidable effects of industrialization have forced humanity to evolve it’s awareness, turning our philosophies of nature and industry towards a more holistic & intentional understanding of living systems. We’re quickly learning the need to look beyond the immediately observable bounds of our creations and place them within larger contexts of community, society, environment, and legacy. This logical shift from Cartesian mechanism to relativism and holism is changing the way we design our world. Whether we’re aware of it or not, our evolving nature is deeply informing our human systems and crafting emergent solutions that look much more biological than mechanistic. Yet, this transition is extraordinarily chaotic as the foundations of civilization are re-examined and upgraded to the new paradigm, concurrent with a massive explosion in human population, a rapidly shifting global energy landscape, new classes of super-empowered actors and collectives, a global information network, instantaneous non-local communication, and a increasingly unpredictable natural environment. It may seem that we’re racing against our own technologies to save ourselves and the planet… Or perhaps Gaia & Technos are co-evolving and seeking homeostasis through their interplay with humanity.