NoteWater Territory
Ancient empires transformed rivers into an instrumental apparatus to maintain their autocratic control. Throughout history, the relationship between human chronicle and natural flux has been deeply intertwined, to the point where one cannot be distinguished from the other...
Term
Agency
Agency, as the capacity to act, is essential in shaping the very existence of the phenomena that are trying to document, articulate and mobilise, fundamentally challenging the traditional divide between subjectivity and objectivity. To be a subject is to share agency with others, rather than act autonomously against an objective background...
TermAnimism
Referring to Anselm Franke, the notion of animism envisions a cosmos where everything is alive and capable of communication. It challenges conventional boundaries by suggesting that all entities, including inanimate objects, can act as agents or “persons.” This perspective shifts the focus from "being" to "becoming" and questions the ontological separations fundamental to modern Western thought...
TermCosmotechnics
In the Anthropocene, with the rise of the technosphere, the Earth System has been transformed into a vast technological network. This marks a moment of re-composition for many institutions, technologies, and scientific and intellectual fields. To respond to the complexities of these transformations, relying on current mono-technological paradigms and singular knowledge structures is ineffective...
TermCybernetics
The emergence of cybernetics in the 1940s declared the end of the opposition between mechanism and organism. The term “cybernetics,” coined by Norbert Wiener for his 1948 book of the same name, originated from the ancient Greek term κυβερνητικός, which is to signify the governance of people. It has multiple definitions but can be broadly understood as the study of control and communication through circular feedback, an applied science spanning diverse fields, which anthropologist Gregory Bateson described as “a branch of mathematics dealing with problems of control, recursiveness, and information...
TermEarth Systerm
Earth System sciences view our planet as a whole, interconnected, and complex system, shaped by interactions and feedback loops that occur through the exchange of material and energy fluxes, drawing on various disciplines such as geology, chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, and others. This system is self-regulating and operates across multiple scales and timeframes, embodying the features of life through the coupling between living forms and their environments...
TermRecursivity & Contingency
In Recursivity and Contingency, Yuk Hui argues that recursivity marks an epistemological break from mechanism, signifying a shift toward systemic construction. Unlike mechanical repetition, recursivity embodies a self-referential, self-determining circular movement, where each iteration is infused with contingency, shaping its unique character. Here, contingency is essential since it enriches the system, allowing it to evolve...
TermSensor
Data gathering, environmental monitoring and simulations are central to Earth Science development, relying on an extensive sensing apparatus that includes remote sensing satellites, radar systems, LiDAR scanners, atmospheric monitoring sensors, optical instruments, and more. Scientific observation goes beyond being a mere direct reflection of objective matters through sensing techniques...
TermTechnosphere
Since the mid-20th century's "Great Acceleration," a new and emerging planetary paradigm known as the technosphere has taken shape, displaying enormous, yet still uncertain, potential. This concept, initially introduced by geoscientist Peter Haff, refers to a vast, interconnected system of material, energy, and information flux and has become a highly dynamic component of the Earth System...