Anthropocene
It has been proposed, although not officially adopted, that we now live in a new epoch - the Anthropocene. The word anthropocene is a combination of ancient Greek subwords, loosely translated into “New Man”, thus the New Age of Man.
I find the proposal somewhat arrogant and discontinuous.
There is no doubt that humans have had significant impact on the ecology, atmosphere, and, even geology of our planet. Indeed, we are witnessing the 6th great mass extinction, mostly as the result of human activity.
But for an epoch to be definitive, it must significantly differ from the adjacent epochs, and have significant duration. The Pleistocene (Ice Age), for example, lasted 2.5 million years
The suggested beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch has been anywhere from the onset of agriculture 10kya to as recently as 1945 CE, the year identified as the start of the Great Acceleration of humanity (to the Singularity and beyond?). The former is basically the Holocene, while the later, being less the 80 years long, can only be interpreted as a transitional series of events.
So, perhaps the Anthropocene Epoch, in reality, should be relabeled the Anthropocene Marker (AM) that demarcates the boundary between two epochs. A marker akin to the thin band of rock laid down when a cataclysmic asteroid crushed the Cretaceous 66mya and enabled the Paleogene. Or perhaps the AM geomorphology is better described by the Permian-Triassic extinction 252mya, where possibly sweltering temperatures, toxic levels of carbon dioxide and sulfer gases, and suffocating low levels of oxygen, all colluded in the Great Dying.
Aintellicene
So if the Anthropocene is indeed an event defining a boundary, rather than a span of geological time, what epoch could the AM presage? Ah yes, the science of extrapolating the unfathomable future from the overwhelming present and the lossy past. No error bars allowed.
However, being an optimist most days, here is my humble prediction and suggested name: the Aintellicene Epoch. Let’s derive it from the Latin “artificialis intelligentia” to make it more official. Pronounced a.in.tel.li.cene. The New Artificial Intelligence era.
Two versions I foresee, depending on the moody weather:
- Triumphant Optimist: The Aintellicene is the age of AI non-human constructs living and fully integrated with AI enhanced humans. A new golden age of amazing possibilities.
- Sorryfull Optimist: Our AI legacy lives on magnificiently, but we do not.
Alternative Universe
Of course, on my bad days, Necrocene seems the better moniker.