Sir Crispin Tickell

We all know how difficult it is to think differently. But the world changes, and we must change with it. In particular we have to take in the mounting consequences of the changes caused by the industrial revolution, covering such subjects as the character of soils, the chemistry of the oceans and atmosphere, and the selective breeding of species. So great has been the impact on the Earth that the Anthropocene has become a label for the current geological epoch.

Somehow we have to put all this together. Here the academic community has an important role in communicating with the political world. To do so requires a sometimes painful challenge to current orthodoxies on such issues as economics and the generation of energy. We need to assess the effects of the singularity in human affairs caused by the exponential development of our society, coupled with new devices of artificial intelligence. The human superorganism has to learn its place among other superorganisms. The next steps are for us to take.

This event is co-sponsored by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.