09/06/2022
Can humanity leave nature behind?
In the face of environmental collapse, humanity may need to turn to artificial replacements for nature – how might we avoid the most dystopian of these futures? Researcher Lauren Holt makes the case for a broader form of "offsetting" to help balance technology with natural systems.
I
In the opening few minutes of the science-fiction film Blade Runner 2049, a police car flies over a landscape that has been transformed by synthetic farming. Concentrically-arranged mirrors for capturing solar energy point and tilt towards central towers like worshippers at Mecca, circle after circle stretching into the distance. Further on, a mosaic of plastic-covered indoor farms cover every inch of land, glinting in the dull sunlight like facets of cracked glaze. Inside one of these cells, a worker in a hazmat suit dredges a handful of squirming beetle larvae from a murky green pool. We learn these farming techniques saved humanity from famine caused by ecological collapse in the mid-2020s. The entire planet is ravaged, containing nothing but highly coveted relics of "real" organisms, and a dysfunctional climate characterised by dry dust. Even then, humans survive, and even prosper – there might be nothing wild left, but they can create perfectly engineered replicant animals to replace the real things. The metaphorical "umbilical cord" connecting human survival and the biosphere has been well and truly cut.
