Cyborg Landscapes. The Optimised Nature of Nature. 16. Weihenstephaner Forum

Like all complex systems, landscape is characterised by non-linearity, emergence, and surprise. In cyborg landscapes, increasingly interspersed with geoenginee-ring implants, the complexity is increased, and this leads not least to the uncertainties with which we will be confronted – Environmental Impact Assessment or Social Impact Assessment will become almost impossible. As with the humanoid cyborg, the cyborg landscape also raises crucial questions. What intensity and severity of technol ogical interventions are acceptable for the landscape and the ecosystem, and do they still exist in a sensible relationship to the expected ecological and social benefits for humanity? How far can we push the hybridisation of man and machine, of nature and technology, without risking the organism as a whole becoming too susceptible to disruption and possibly collapsing completely one day? Key questions such as these can only be discussed successfully in open interdisciplinary debates. Natalie Gulsrud from Denmark, Daixin Dai from China, Ilkka Halso from Finland, Essam Heggy from the USA and Egypt, Paul Roncknen from the Netherlands, and Steven Velegrinis from the USA have accepted the invitation to take part in such a round table discussion at TUM and, in their contributions published here, they offer trend-setting suggestions for dealing with the cyborg landscapes of the future.