New Scientist - July 27, 2019

27 July 2019 | New Scientist | 45

“ The chemical-physical

type of humanity has

had its time”

We are heading

into a new geological

era, the Novacene,

visionary scientist

James Lovelock tells

Gaia Vince

Features Interview

J

AMES LOVELOCK turns 100 this July. One of

the most influential scientists of our time,

he worked for the British government

during the second world war and later for NASA

on the Mars Viking mission. It was then that he

was inspired to develop the Gaia hypothesis,

the idea that Earth is a massively

interconnected, self-regulating system. His

new book, Novacene: The coming age of

hyperintelligence, argues that the

Anthropocene era of human influence over the

planet is coming to an end and that an age of

superintelligent beings is about to begin.

Thanks for the coffee and, er, the saucer of ice...

That’s to make it drinkable. A chunk of ice cools

the coffee 80 times more effectively than the

equivalent volume of water at 0 degrees.

Ever the scientist. How did your interest in

science and problem-solving start?

Well, my dad was a hunter-gatherer and that’s

where I learned my ecology. He used to take

me for walks and knew the nesting places of

all the birds, and the names and homes of all

the animals, plants and insects. He gave me

training in the environment.

Dawn of a

new age:

James

Lovelock

at 100

Photographed by David Stock

for New Scientist >