A riveting exploration of one of the most important dilemmas of our time: will digital technology accelerate environmental degradation, or could it play a role in ecological regeneration? At the uncanny edge of the scientific frontier,
Gaia's Web explores the promise and pitfalls the Digital Age holds for the future of our planet. Instead of the Internet of Things, environmental scientist and tech entrepreneur Karen Bakker asks, why not consider the Internet of
Living Things? At the surprising and inspiring confluence of our digital and ecological futures, Bakker explores how the tools of the Digital Age could be mobilized to address our most pressing environmental challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss. Interspersed with ten elegiac, enigmatic parables, each of which is based on an existing technology,
Gaia's Web evokes the conundrums we face as the World Wide Web intertwines with the Web of Life.
A new generation of innovators is deploying digital technology to come to the aid of the planet, using spy satellites to track down environmental criminals, inviting animals to the Metaverse, and biohacking Frankenstein-like biobots as environmental sentinels. But will they end up doing more harm than good? In an engaging take on conservation technology, Bakker looks at the digital tech applications to environmental issues from predatory harvesting of environmental data to human bycatch and eco-surveillance capitalism. If we address these issues and mobilize digitally mediated forms of citizen science, she argues, digital tech could help reverse environmental harms and advance environmental sustainability. And in the process, Big Tech might be transformed for the better.
With its uniquely broad scope--combining insights from computer science, ecology, engineering, environmental science, and environmental law--
Gaia's Web introduces profoundly novel ways of addressing our most pressing environmental challenges--mitigating climate change, protecting endangered species--and creating new possibilities for ecological justice by empowering nonhumans to participate in environmental regulation.
一本引人入勝的探索，關於我們時代最重要的困境之一：數位科技是否會加速環境惡化，或者能在生態再生中扮演一個角色？
在科學前沿的神秘邊緣，《蓋亞的網絡》探索了數位時代對我們星球未來的承諾和陷阱。環境科學家和科技企業家Karen Bakker提出，為什麼不考慮「生物網絡」而不是「物聯網」？在我們數位和生態未來的驚人和鼓舞人心的交匯處，Bakker探討了數位時代的工具如何能夠應對我們最迫切的環境挑戰，從氣候變化到生物多樣性損失。《蓋亞的網絡》交織了十個哀婉而神秘的寓言，每個寓言都基於一個現有的技術，喚起了當世界網絡與生命網絡交織在一起時我們所面臨的困境。
一代新的創新者正在運用數位技術來幫助地球，使用間諜衛星追蹤環境罪犯，邀請動物進入虛擬世界，並將生物學與技術結合，創造出環境監測的生物機器人。但他們是否會造成更多的傷害而非益處？在對保護技術的引人入勝的觀點中，Bakker探討了從環境數據的掠奪性收集到人類副產品和生態監視資本主義的數位技術應用。她認為，如果我們解決這些問題並動員數位媒介形式的公民科學，數位技術可以幫助逆轉環境損害並推進環境可持續性。在這個過程中，大型科技公司可能會得到改變，變得更好。
《蓋亞的網絡》以其獨特的廣泛範圍──結合了計算機科學、生態學、工程學、環境科學和環境法學的見解──引入了解決我們最迫切的環境挑戰──減緩氣候變化、保護瀕危物種──以及通過賦予非人類參與環境監管的能力，創造生態正義的新可能性。
