One encouraging sign of the recent times is that we are beginning to step back and look at more of the elephant. Some people are looking at the overlap of ecosphere and sociosphere - for example, studies of legislation about conservation on our natural environment; some people are looking at the overlap of sociosphere and technosphere - for example, social assessment studies of the human impact of technology; some people are looking at the overlap of the ecosphere and the technosphere - for example, technology assessment studies of the environmental impact of technology.
We must, however, step even further back and look at the triple overlap of the three spheres - the person in the center. Our future will be largely determined by the actions of people, whether through the mediation of the ecosphere, the sociosphere, or the technosphere or whatever complex combination of our different environments.
We must look not only at the person in the center but within the person in the center. Social change is determined by the actions of the person in the center but those present actions are based, in turn, on values acquired in the past and visions of the future. It is necessary, therefore, to erect a second story in our model, which represents the subjective map of the person in the objective world (see Figure 2).
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