Seeing the technosphere

We spend most of our lives surrounded by the technosphere: the global assemblage of non-living human creations. But like the proverbial fish unaware of the water it swims in, we have only vague comprehension of the physical scale, structure, and dynamics of this globe-spanning entity.This work contributes to the new science of the technosphere by providing the first global mapping of its mass distribution and characterizing how it changes over time. We estimated the masses and spatial distributions of major functional components using categories like residential buildings, roads, machinery, electrical grids, information systems, and airplanes. We also showed that the technosphere has grown exponentially since 1900, displaying characteristics of an autocatalytic process with a doubling time of approximately 20 years. It now very likely exceeds the dry mass of the biosphere and continues to add mass at a rate of more than 110 million tons—equal to 20 Great Pyramids—per day.The technosphere is a major physical component of our planet that exhibits its own internal processes in tight coupling with human societies. This work lays the foundation for further study of this massive assemblage, which supports our industrial lifestyles and lies at the core of both traditional economic growth and global sustainability challenges.