Total systemic failure?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Total systemic failure?

AU - Garnett, Philip Richard

PY - 2018/6

Y1 - 2018/6

N2 - While the world argues about whether climate change is real, what if all systems are failing? This paper seeks to ignite further discussion concerning human impact on all aspects of our environment as we move further into the Anthropocene, not only in terms of the pressure we produce, but also how our activity changes the nature of the relationships between Earth's systems. The paper suggests that we currently lack the tools and analytical capacity to understand the significance of these changes and therefore we cannot answer the question, "are all systems failing?". We discuss how complexity theory, complex networks, and Artificial Intelligence, could contribute part of a solution.

AB - While the world argues about whether climate change is real, what if all systems are failing? This paper seeks to ignite further discussion concerning human impact on all aspects of our environment as we move further into the Anthropocene, not only in terms of the pressure we produce, but also how our activity changes the nature of the relationships between Earth's systems. The paper suggests that we currently lack the tools and analytical capacity to understand the significance of these changes and therefore we cannot answer the question, "are all systems failing?". We discuss how complexity theory, complex networks, and Artificial Intelligence, could contribute part of a solution.

KW - COMPLEXITY

KW - Anthropocene

KW - Artificial Intelligence

KW - ENVIRONMENT

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.075

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.075

M3 - Article

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 626

SP - 684

EP - 688

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

ER -