A riveting exploration of one of the most important dilemmas of our
time: will digital technology accelerate environmental degradation, or
could it play a role in ecological regeneration? At the uncanny edge
of the scientific frontier, Gaia’s Web explores the promise and
pitfalls the Digital Age holds for the future of our planet. Instead
of the Internet of Things, environmental scientist and tech
entrepreneur Karen Bakker asks, why not consider the Internet of
Living Things? At the surprising and inspiring confluence of our
digital and ecological futures, Bakker explores how the tools of the
Digital Age could be mobilized to address our most pressing
environmental challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss.
Interspersed with ten elegiac, enigmatic parables, each of which is
based on an existing technology, Gaia’s Web evokes the conundrums we
face as the World Wide Web intertwines with the Web of Life. A new
generation of innovators is deploying digital technology to come to
the aid of the planet, using spy satellites to track down
environmental criminals, inviting animals to the Metaverse, and
biohacking Frankenstein-like biobots as environmental sentinels. But
will they end up doing more harm than good? In an engaging take on
conservation technology, Bakker looks at the digital tech applications
to environmental issues from predatory harvesting of environmental
data to human bycatch and eco-surveillance capitalism. If we address
these issues and mobilize digitally mediated forms of citizen science,
she argues, digital tech could help reverse environmental harms and
advance environmental sustainability. And in the process, Big Tech
might be transformed for the better. With its uniquely broad
scope—combining insights from computer science, ecology,
engineering, environmental science, and environmental law—Gaia’s
Web introduces profoundly novel ways of addressing our most pressing
environmental challenges—mitigating climate change, protecting
endangered species—and creating new possibilities for ecological
justice by empowering nonhumans to participate in environmental
regulation.
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How Digital Environmentalism Can Combat Climate Change, Restore Biodiversity, Cultivate Empathy, and Regenerate the Earth
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780262377690
Publisert
2023
Utgiver
Random House Publishing Services
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter