I often reflect that, as far as we know, there are only three scientifically confirmed miracles: that is, events that happened only once (as far as we know) through mechanisms that are still a mystery to us, and that changed everything. These are as follows: (1) the Big Bang, which set in motion the evolution of the physiosphere; (2) the origin of life, giving rise to the biosphere (which “runs” on the physiosphere, but has the emergent property of agency; and (3) the origin of digital language in one species (us), which gave rise to the noosphere—the realm of culture through shared and externally stored knowledge. What we have largely forgotten is that the noosphere “runs” on the biosphere, as surely as the latter “runs” on the physiosphere; but unlike the physiosphere, the biosphere is perishable…