synthetic ecology

Climate science debate has cost precious time, expert warns

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:56:10 -0400

Climate science debate has cost precious time, expert warns:

Commission report says evidence of rapidly changed climate has strengthened

Top Google Engineer: Human Immortality Is Within Our Grasp

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:55:55 -0400

Top Google Engineer: Human Immortality Is Within Our Grasp:

We are reaching a tipping point in biology and medicine. Eventually human tissue will be printed out and installed.

http://Russian Multimillionaire Seeks To Mass Produce Lifelike Humans By 2035

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:53:30 -0400

http://Russian Multimillionaire Seeks To Mass Produce Lifelike Humans By 2035:

http://Russian Multimillionaire Seeks To Mass Produce Lifelike Humans By 2035

Mark Fisher: The Political Aesthetics of Postcapitalism / Methodologies of Valorization, 16/11/2011

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:41:54 -0400

Mark Fisher: The Political Aesthetics of Postcapitalism / Methodologies of Valorization, 16/11/2011:

Mark Fisher The Political Aesthetics of Postcapitalism 16.11.2011 19:00, net.culture club mama, PreradoviÄeva 18, Zagreb In his book Capitalist Realism, Mark…

MANIFESTO for an Accelerationist Politics

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:41:34 -0400

MANIFESTO for an Accelerationist Politics:

01. INTRODUCTION: On the Conjuncture 1. At the beginning of the second decade of the Twenty-First Century, global civilization faces a new breed of cataclysm. These coming apocalypses ridicule the …

Dubai timelapse, A Beautiful Monster

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 18:27:08 -0400

Dubai timelapse, A Beautiful Monster

Solar eclipse as seen from orbit.

Wed, 29 May 2013 22:55:04 -0400

Solar eclipse as seen from orbit.

Bombshell: China May Be Close To Implementing A Cap On Carbon Pollution

Sun, 26 May 2013 11:34:29 -0400

Bombshell: China May Be Close To Implementing A Cap On Carbon Pollution:

China is taking steps to tackle its huge carbon output. Today, the country announced the details of its first carbon trading program, which will begin in the city of Shenzhen next month. The southern city is one of seven cities and provinces, including Beijing, which will take part in the pilot program, set to be […]

U.S. Cities Growing Faster Than Suburbs

Sun, 26 May 2013 11:30:17 -0400

U.S. Cities Growing Faster Than Suburbs:

America’s biggest cities are continuing to outgrow their suburbs as the plodding recovery makes it harder for city dwellers to move to greener pastures.

What If We Never Run Out of Oil?

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:03:35 -0400

What If We Never Run Out of Oil?:

New technology and a little-known energy source suggest that fossil fuels may not be finite. This would be a miracle—and a nightmare.

CREDO

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:49:09 -0400

Nature. There is no (external) nature. All ecology is synthetic.
Space. Geographic scale has been reified. The totality of flows of energy, matter, and information that shape socio-environmental processes cannot be captured by any artificial boundary. There are no closed systems.
Energy. Energy is the master resource. Its availability is the main driver of historical change. Radical energy independence is crucial to the perpetuation of civilization.
Sustainability. When not being used for the purposes of “greenwash,” sustainability has been co-opted by thermodynamic pessimism. Neither of these acceptations is useful.
Economics. Scarcity is a human construct.
Capitalism. Capitalism is not sustainable, but the perceived socio-environmental crises are still epiphenomena of capitalism. Dealing with capitalism’s contradictions does not guarantee ameliorating the crises.
Boomsters. Technological optimists who declare themselves apolitical are tacit apologists of capitalism.
Doomsters. Ecological economists critical of capitalism rely on the same technological apparatus as technological optimists to successfully take on their managerial program. Further, their energy reductionism constitutes a thermodynamic dead end.
Critical theory. For all its analytical antisepticism, the left has not been successful in articulating a powerful anti-ideology of nature capable of capturing the general public’s imagination as effectively as the mainstream environmental discourse has.
Ethics. All calls for change reliant on an ethics of self-restraint and contentedness will never be considered the best option.

A Dream of Glowing Trees Is Assailed for Gene-Tinkering

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:48:19 -0400

A Dream of Glowing Trees Is Assailed for Gene-Tinkering:

A project to create a plant that glows in the dark, potentially leading the way for trees that can replace streetlamps, has been denounced for tinkering with genes.

Arctic Ocean 'acidifying rapidly'

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:58:33 -0400

Arctic Ocean 'acidifying rapidly'

Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero!

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:51:18 -0400

Mars One opens applications for one-way ticket to Mars (Wired UK)

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:29:26 -0400

Mars One opens applications for one-way ticket to Mars (Wired UK):

Two women and two men will be selected to make the journey, but questions remain about mission’s viability

Genetically Modified E. Coli Bacteria Can Now Synthesize Diesel Fuel

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:00:48 -0400

Genetically Modified E. Coli Bacteria Can Now Synthesize Diesel Fuel:

By combining genes from different bacteria species, scientists created E. coli that can consume fat and excrete diesel fuel

Obama: NASA should capture asteroid, place it in orbit | The Space Reporter

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:32:38 -0400

Obama: NASA should capture asteroid, place it in orbit | The Space Reporter

The Curse of Fertilizer

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:16:04 -0400

The Curse of Fertilizer:

If we don’t watch out, agriculture could destroy our planet. Here’s how to grow all the food we need with fewer chemicals.

1st Shuttle Launch

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:44:11 -0400

1st Shuttle Launch

Biological computer that 'lives' inside the body comes one step closer as scientists make transistor out of DNA and RNA

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:58:48 -0400

Biological computer that 'lives' inside the body comes one step closer as scientists make transistor out of DNA and RNA :

Scientists believe they are close to building the first truly biological computer made from the organic molecules of life and capable of working within the living cells of organisms ranging from microbes to man.