Monday, August 18, 2014

We Are As Gods

Except, as an atheist, we are not like Gods, we are like humans, continually terraforming and altering our home planet to suit our needs and wants. If that makes us like Gods, that doesn't really speak too well of the Gods. They were always over-rated already.

A Start-Up Provides a Picture of Our Shape-Shifting Planet

The techno-futurist Stewart Brand has said “we are as gods” for the way humans have profoundly changed how the planet works. Now a start-up in San Francisco is offering fresh evidence.

The start-up, Planet Labs, has posted a gallery of images of Earththat illustrate how much people affect the planet, and how rapidly we move, crop, build on and otherwise reshape our world.

“The first thing you notice is the beauty,” said Will Marshall, chief executive of Planet Labs, speaking of his company’s photos, taken at an altitude of 600 kilometers, about 370 miles. “Then you compare them to older images, and you see that something has changed — a river has been moved, there are new buildings, a reservoir has been built or drained.”