Next Nature
Encyclopedia
Next Nature is a philosophical concept that states that human cultural activity creates a new kind of nature distinct from "old" nature. The term Next Nature was coined by the Dutch artist and scientist Koert Van Mensvoort. The subject was further explored in the book Next Nature. Next Nature is a subset of postmodern philosophy
. In keeping with postmodern tenets, it rejects dualist oppositions between the real and the virtual, and between man, machines, animals and nature.
According to Next Nature, humanity is increasingly controlling and shaping the natural environment. Much of so-called "old" nature, from trees to atoms to the climate, have now become human cultural categories. At the same time, products of human culture, such as domesticated crops or computer viruses, are able to outgrow human control and become autonomous and unpredictable. Common notions of what constitutes nature
and culture
are trading places. The central idea of Next Nature is that nature, rather than a static entity, is a dynamic force that interacts with and changes along with humans culture.
. Next nature began with the behavioral modernity
of Homo sapiens, and accelerated during the Industrial Revolution
, the Green Revolution
and the Information Age
. Over time, the expanding influence of humanity on earth has replaced old nature with next nature. Anthropogenic events such as global warming
and pollution, agriculture, the Holocene Extinction, mass communications and globalization
have all greatly contributed to the spread of next nature.
and posthumanism
, in that it posits that the ontological boundaries between categories such as humanity, nature, and technology are context-dependent and in flux. The traditional, simplified definitions of nature and culture ascribed everything born, evolved or naturally occurring to nature, and everything purposefully made or manipulated to human culture. Through human technological advances, not to mention changing philosophical approaches, these traditional definitions are no longer adequate.
According to Next Nature, a more useful means to divide nature and culture is between the "controllable" and the "autonomous." In keeping with Ulrich Beck
's notion of the risk society
, Next Nature holds that anthropogenic systems become unpredictable once they become sufficiently large and complex. While supposedly wild realms such as national parks can be highly controlled or at least influenced by human activity, human technologies and cultural meme
s show signs of autonomous behavior and evolution. Therefore, culture can be transformed into nature and vice versa, and the declining biodiversity in nature is matched by a growing diversity in next nature. The book Volume 18: After Zero contains a visual essay exploring next nature.
in the Netherlands. The lab produces projects such as the ECO Emissions Reduction Currency System
and the Nano Supermarket.
Postmodern philosophy
Postmodern philosophy is a philosophical direction which is critical of the foundational assumptions and structures of philosophy. Beginning as a critique of Continental philosophy, it was heavily influenced by phenomenology, structuralism and existentialism, including writings of Georg Wilhelm...
. In keeping with postmodern tenets, it rejects dualist oppositions between the real and the virtual, and between man, machines, animals and nature.
According to Next Nature, humanity is increasingly controlling and shaping the natural environment. Much of so-called "old" nature, from trees to atoms to the climate, have now become human cultural categories. At the same time, products of human culture, such as domesticated crops or computer viruses, are able to outgrow human control and become autonomous and unpredictable. Common notions of what constitutes nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
are trading places. The central idea of Next Nature is that nature, rather than a static entity, is a dynamic force that interacts with and changes along with humans culture.
Origins of Next Nature
Next natural phenomena arose with the beginnings of the AnthropoceneAnthropocene
The Anthropocene is a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems...
. Next nature began with the behavioral modernity
Behavioral modernity
Behavioral modernity is a term used in anthropology, archeology and sociology to refer to a set of traits that distinguish present day humans and their recent ancestors from both living primates and other extinct hominid lineages. It is the point at which Homo sapiens began to demonstrate a...
of Homo sapiens, and accelerated during the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, the Green Revolution
Green Revolution
Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
and the Information Age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
. Over time, the expanding influence of humanity on earth has replaced old nature with next nature. Anthropogenic events such as global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
and pollution, agriculture, the Holocene Extinction, mass communications and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
have all greatly contributed to the spread of next nature.
Definitions of Next Nature
- The nature caused by people
- Culturally emerged nature
- When second nature becomes first nature
Significance of Next Nature
Next nature provides a framework to explain the current relationship between culture and nature. It has much in common with the philosophies of cyborg theoryCyborg theory
Cyborg theory was created by Donna Haraway in order to criticize traditional notions of feminism—particularly its strong emphasis on identity, rather than affinity. She uses the metaphor of a cyborg in order to construct a feminism that moves beyond dualisms and moves beyond the limitations of...
and posthumanism
Posthumanism
Posthumanism or post-humanism is a term with five definitions:#Antihumanism: a term applied to a number of thinkers opposed to the project of philosophical anthropology....
, in that it posits that the ontological boundaries between categories such as humanity, nature, and technology are context-dependent and in flux. The traditional, simplified definitions of nature and culture ascribed everything born, evolved or naturally occurring to nature, and everything purposefully made or manipulated to human culture. Through human technological advances, not to mention changing philosophical approaches, these traditional definitions are no longer adequate.
According to Next Nature, a more useful means to divide nature and culture is between the "controllable" and the "autonomous." In keeping with Ulrich Beck
Ulrich Beck
Ulrich Beck is a German sociologist who holds a professorship at Munich University and at the London School of Economics.-Life:...
's notion of the risk society
Risk society
"Risk society" is a term that emerged during the 1990s to describe the manner in which modern society organises in response to risk. The term is closely associated with several key writers on modernity, in particular Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck...
, Next Nature holds that anthropogenic systems become unpredictable once they become sufficiently large and complex. While supposedly wild realms such as national parks can be highly controlled or at least influenced by human activity, human technologies and cultural meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
s show signs of autonomous behavior and evolution. Therefore, culture can be transformed into nature and vice versa, and the declining biodiversity in nature is matched by a growing diversity in next nature. The book Volume 18: After Zero contains a visual essay exploring next nature.
Examples of Next Nature
Next Nature phenomena range from the merely imitative, such as plastic flowers, to manmade systems that rival natural ecologies in their complexity and unpredictability, such as the internet. Other examples include:- People know more corporate logos than local plant or animal species
- Cell phones, once second nature, are now first nature and feel like a natural part of the body.
- Highly manipulated plants and animals (either through breeding or genetic manipulation) can seem more authentic than the original version. Most people would recognize a domesticated banana as more “real” than a wild banana.
- Video games and online social networks restructure human social interactions to feel more tribal. See Marshall McLuhanMarshall McLuhanHerbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
's definition of the “global village.” - Different designs of a razor can evolve following the same logic as a living organism.
- A child remarks that the forest smells like shampoo, rather than the shampoo smelling like a forest.
- The global economy is in large part controlled by autonomous computer algorithms.
Next Nature Initiatives
The Next Nature Foundation is an Amsterdam-based think tank that creates publications, events, and runs the website Nextnature.net. Every few years Next Nature produces the Power Show, which brings together theorists, scientists and artists for a multidisciplinary conference. The Next Nature Lab is an initiative of Eindhoven University of TechnologyEindhoven University of Technology
The ' is a university of technology located in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The motto of the university is: Mens agitat molem . The university was the second of its kind in the Netherlands, only Delft University of Technology existed previously. Until mid-1980 it was known as the...
in the Netherlands. The lab produces projects such as the ECO Emissions Reduction Currency System
Emissions Reduction Currency System
Emissions Reduction Currency Systems are schemes that provide a positive economic and or social reward for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, either through distribution or redistribution of national currency or through the publishing of coupons, reward points, social currency, or...
and the Nano Supermarket.
See also
- HyperrealityHyperrealityHyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies...
- PosthumanismPosthumanismPosthumanism or post-humanism is a term with five definitions:#Antihumanism: a term applied to a number of thinkers opposed to the project of philosophical anthropology....
- NoosphereNoosphereNoosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
- AnthropoceneAnthropoceneThe Anthropocene is a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems...
- Built environmentBuilt environmentThe term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
- Risk SocietyRisk society"Risk society" is a term that emerged during the 1990s to describe the manner in which modern society organises in response to risk. The term is closely associated with several key writers on modernity, in particular Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck...
- CyberspaceCyberspaceCyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
External links
- The website for the Next Nature Foundation http://www.nextnature.net/
- The Next Nature Power Show http://www.nextnature.net/events/powershow2011/
- Head of the Graphic Design Museum in Holland, Mieke Gerritzen, talks about Next Nature http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8b7e_mieke-gerritzen-the-next-nature-lif_tech
- Real Nature is Not Green: Visions on Next Nature (DVD), All Media, Amsterdam, ISBN 978-90-811655-5-6