This is crossposted from the
MPE2013 blog, and written by John Baez and David Tanzer.
It is increasingly clear that we are initiating a sequence of dramatic
events across our planet. They include habitat loss, an increased rate
of extinction, global warming, the melting of ice caps and permafrost,
an increase in extreme weather events, gradually rising sea levels,
ocean acidification, the spread of oceanic “dead zones,” a depletion of
natural resources, and ensuing social strife.
These events are all connected. They come from a way of life that
views the Earth as essentially infinite, human civilization as a
negligible perturbation, and exponential economic growth as a permanent
condition. Deep changes will occur as these idealizations bring us
crashing into the brick wall of reality. If we do not muster the will
to act before things get significantly worse, we will need to do so
later. While we may plead that it is “too difficult” or “too late,”
this doesn’t matter: a transformation is inevitable. All we can do is
start where we find ourselves, and begin adapting to life on a
finite-sized planet.
Where does mathematics fit into all this? While the problems we face
have deep roots, major transformations in society have always caused
and been helped along by revolutions in mathematics. Starting near the
end of the last ice age, the Agricultural Revolution eventually led to
the birth of written numerals and geometry. Centuries later, the
Industrial Revolution brought us calculus, and eventually a flowering of
mathematics unlike any before. Now, as the 21st century unfolds,
mathematics will become increasingly driven by our need to understand
the biosphere and our role within it.
We refer to mathematics suitable for understanding the biosphere as
green mathematics. Although it is just being born, we can already see some of its outlines.
Read the
full post.
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