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

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 reality of evolution in the noosphere, Teilhard believed, is reflected in the mushrooming of knowledge, research, thought, technological advance.

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

The Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, writing at midcentury, long before the Internet, nonetheless discerned a "thinking envelope of the earth" that he dubbed the "noosphere."

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