198 Human Factors of a Global Society
be reproduced without purposeful activity of people. This will be the mission of humankind, who
has changed the shape of the planet so much that people have become the real force dening the
preservation of the biosphere.
What V.S. Stepin has said about the critical era in the human civilization development is mostly
agreeable, with one exception: He claims that the mission of humans will be to articially maintain
the environment. It is a principal mistake. Using the results of technical progress for preservation
of what it changes cannot be the goal. Any goal is something external in relation to a system. This
goal is beyond self-maintenance of mankind in conditions set by nature (life on Earth), and it ...