The Astrobiology of the Anthropocene
Abstract
Human influence on the biosphere has been evident at least since the development of widespread agriculture, and some stratigraphers have suggested that the activities of modern civilization indicate a geological epoch transition. The study of the anthropocene as a geological epoch, and its implication for the future of energy-intensive civilizations, is an emerging transdisciplinary field in which astrobiology can play a leading role. Habitability research of Earth, Mars, and exoplanets examines extreme cases relevant for understanding climate change as a planetary process. Energy-intensive civilizations will also face thermodynamic limits to growth, which provides an important constraint for estimating the longevity of human civilization and guiding the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We recommend that missions concepts such as LUVOIR, HabEx, and OST be pursued in order to make significant progress toward understanding the future evolution of life on our planet and the possible evolution of technological, energy-intensive life elsewhere in the universe.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1801.00052,
title = {The Astrobiology of the Anthropocene},
author = {Jacob Haqq-Misra and Sanjoy Som and Brendan Mullan and Rafael Loureiro and Edward Schwieterman and Lauren Seyler and Haritina Mogosanu and Adam Frank and Eric Wolf and Duncan Forgan and Charles Cockell and Woodruff Sullivan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.00052},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
A white paper on "Astrobiology Science Strategy" submitted to the NAS