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Publications [#328732] of Peter K. Haff

Papers Published

  1. Haff, PK, Being human in the Anthropocene, The Anthropocene Review, vol. 4 no. 2 (August, 2017), pp. 103-109, SAGE Publications [doi]
    (last updated on 2023/06/01)

    Abstract:
    This essay aims to show how what is most intimately and essentially human – our ideas, personal purposes, feelings, and dreams – finds space for expression within the autonomous, unfeeling, physical dynamics of the technosphere – the defining system of the Anthropocene. The approach adopted is based on systems science and aims to avoid metaphysical assumptions about the nature and importance of human values. A non-humanistic analysis of human potential shows why the demands of the physical technosphere on human behavior leave space for nominally non-technospheric activities, such as the pursuit of personal purposes. The dynamical perspective also highlights the central role of humanistic pushback against technospheric encroachment on the human domain.