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 100Photographed by David Stock
for New Scientist >