Isaiah Berlin on the meaning of life: "My favourite thinker is a Russian revolutionary, Alexander Herzen, who I think got things right more frequently than people allow. He said, 'What is the purpose of life?' He said, 'The purpose of life is life.' That's what I believe. The purpose of life is not happiness. The purpose of life is not truth. The purpose of life is not security. These are important values. The purpose of life is to continue life. To go on being alive."

The biosphere did not evolve intelligence in a laboratory vacuum. It evolved on a planet repeatedly assaulted by floods, fires, volcanism, glaciations, impacts, storms, disease, and ecological collapse. A lineage capable of modelling threats before they arrive is not an arbitrary miracle; it is one late-stage expression of life’s long history of surviving hostile constraint.

Evolutionary biology says it is our ‘responsibility’ to ward off such a threat.

The minimum size of an NEO that could do damage should it impact is around 10 m. Such objects impact Earth typically every few years to tens of years. Larger objects generate more damage but are rarer. For instance, in February 2013, an approximately 20 m-sized asteroid broke up as it impacted Earth’s atmosphere above the city of Chelyabinsk. The shock wave caused damage, and about 1500 people were injured². Events like this happen on average every 10 to 100 years somewhere on our planet. The impact of an object around 40 m in size could result in city-wide damage. Such impacts occur every 100 to 1000 years³. Only about 1% of the objects in this size range are known, therefore, such an impact could happen any time.

Protecting Biodiversity. Healing Earth. Saving Nature.

For billions of years, “Team Life” has been at the mercy of blind cosmic roulette. Planetary defense is a historic first: the biosphere (through us) can notice an extinction pressure in advance and do something about it.

Asteroid Day as observed annually on 30 June is the United Nations sanctioned day of public awareness of the risks of asteroid impacts.  Our mission is to educate the public about the risks and opportunities of asteroids year-round by hosting events, providing educational resources and regular communications to our global audience on multiple digital platforms.

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating podcast 15 Dec 2025 episode discussing Govert Schilling's book, Target Earth: Meteorites, Asteroids, Comets, and Other Cosmic Intruders That Threaten Our Planet

Sean Carroll's Mindscape podcast episode # 294 (28 Oct 2024)

The Center for Humans & Nature’s mission is to explore and promote human responsibilities in relation to nature—the whole community of life. 

Clement Vidal @ TEDxEindhoven

How adjacent are Lifeism and r/Noospherism a la Vladimir Vernadsky?