---
title: "Assisted Reproduction / Assisted Evolution"
description: "The two scaffolding operations by which, in substrate-agnostic ecology, the technosphere feeds back into the biosphere — \"the basic forms of habitability maintenance.\" Assisted reproduction sustains…"
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/assisted-reproduction-assisted-evolution"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/assisted-reproduction-assisted-evolution"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Assisted Reproduction / Assisted Evolution

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/assisted-reproduction-assisted-evolution), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

The two scaffolding operations by which, in substrate-agnostic ecology, the technosphere feeds back into the biosphere — "the basic forms of habitability maintenance." *Assisted reproduction* sustains existing units: individuals (shelter, provisioning), groups (Stieglerian tertiary retention; platform-scale computation), species (IVF, cloning), metabolisms (river regulation, carbon capture via silicate weathering, solar radiation management). *Assisted evolution* steers novelty: cultural and technological evolution, the dataome, and above all genotype modification (CRISPR corals), phenotype modification (bioprogrammed microbes), and synthetic evolution (new species, artificial life), licensed by extended evolutionary synthesis and niche construction. Together they redefine habitability as enhancing a planet's *genesity* rather than conserving Earth-like conditions. Functionally equivalent to Bratton's "artificialization."

## Appears in

- [The Long L](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/longl) (2025-11-21)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._