Zitationsvorschlag
Identifier (Buch)
Veröffentlicht
Micromégas – Mégamicros: Kosmische Skaleninvarianz und die Suche nach dem richtigen Maß – oder: eine nicht-euklidische Lektion für das Anthropozän
Abstract The question of the “right measure” or “right size” of all elements of the cosmos, and in particular of man, has received very different answers in modern European literature. Taking Joseph Delboeuf’s article “Mégamicros” as a starting point, this chapter reconstructs (in a somewhat idealized fashion) different historical positions and shows how the question of the right size is linked to the idea of scale invariance (or a lack thereof). A lack of scale invariance challenges the basic abstraction with which we approach our world. Understanding that our basic abstractions can prove delusive, the chapter argues, is the fundamental lesson humanity has to learn at the dawn of the Anthropocene.
Keywords cosmos; scale invariance; planetary boundaries; Anthropocene; Joseph Delboeuf; Michel de Montaigne; Blaise Pascal; Voltaire
