noosphere

American  

[noh-uh-sfeer] / ˈnoʊ əˌsfɪər /

noun

Ecology.

1. the biosphere including and modified by such human activities as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, urbanization, and industrialization.

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noosphere British  

/ ˈnəʊˌsfɪə /

noun

1. philosophy the part of the biosphere that is affected by human thought, culture, and knowledge

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Etymology

Origin of noosphere

First recorded in 1940–45; from French noösphere, from Greek nóo(s) “mind” + French sphère “globe”; see sphere

Example Sentences

Similarly, the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was persuaded that evolution has brought civilization to a higher state of consciousness�a "noosphere" that will ultimately unite man, at the "Omega" point, with God.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now, nearly a half-century after Teilhard's death, we have cause to be less sanguine about this noosphere business.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the noosphere the whole planet stands at the threshold of a huge, new, evolutionary leap, for which the time is only just ripe.

From Time Magazine Archive

Viewing the noosphere up close and personal--from the inside--we can see that its potential for good and evil is about equal.

From Time Magazine Archive

The noosphere, he believed, entails a "sort of etherized universal consciousness" that will lead us, at last, to an era of brotherly love.

From Time Magazine Archive