Geo-societal More-than-Humanness

Natural sciences paradigms guide this essay’s perspectives. Given the complex-adaptive dynamics of the Earth System, cultures are drivers and prompts of human and natural (sub)systems, respectively. The essay combines geo-philosophical thought and Semiotic Cultural Psychological Theory to depict an ideal-typic narrative of people’s sensemaking culture as an intrinsic part of the Earth System. Generic characteristics of marine operations (e.g., mining at the seabed) illustrate the description. The essay claims that human culture is an attribute of the Earth System, i.e., the nexus that ties human socio-cultural domains and planetary technosphere, biosphere and geosphere, and that more-than-humanness is one of the nexus’ attributes.