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Navigating the Biocosmos: Cornerstones of a Bioeconomic Utopia

Author

Listed:
  • Wolfgang Onyeali

    (Alumnus, University of Hohenheim, Schloss 1, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Michael P. Schlaile

    (Research Area 2 “Land Use and Governance”, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
    Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Via Monte Generoso 71, 21100 Varese, Italy
    Institut für Ökonomie, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Kornpfortstr. 15, 56068 Koblenz, Germany
    Department of Innovation Economics, University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Bastian Winkler

    (Department of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract

One important insight from complexity science is that the future is open, and that this openness is an opportunity for us to participate in its shaping. The bioeconomy has been part of this process of “future-making”. But instead of a fertile ecosystem of imagined futures, a dry monoculture of ideas seems to dominate the landscape, promising salvation through technology. With this article, we intend to contribute to regenerating the ecological foundations of the bioeconomy. What would it entail if we were to merge with the biosphere instead of machines? To lay the cornerstones of a bioeconomic utopia, we explore the basic principles of self-organization that underlie biological, ecological, social, and psychological processes alike. All these are self-assembling and self-regulating elastic structures that exist at the edge of chaos and order. We then revisit the Promethean problem that lies at the foundation of bioeconomic thought and discuss how, during industrialization, the principles of spontaneous self-organization were replaced by the linear processes of the assembly line. We ultimately propose a bioeconomy based on human needs with the household as the basic unit: the biocosmos . The biocosmos is an agroecological habitat system of irreducible complexity, a new human niche embedded into the local ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang Onyeali & Michael P. Schlaile & Bastian Winkler, 2023. "Navigating the Biocosmos: Cornerstones of a Bioeconomic Utopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-32, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:6:p:1212-:d:1168656
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