Re: <nettime> McKenzie Wark: Birth of Thanaticism

[John Hopkins <jhopkins@neoscenes.net>]

On the Thanaticism discussion -- I ran across this excerpt from an interview 
with Langdon Winner:

Q: You have also been critical of the term Anthropocene, the idea that we are 
living in a new epoch where human activities define ecosystems. It’s an idea 
that could shape development planning over the next few decades. Why do you 
think we need to be wary?

LW: It’s the idea that you can name geological epochs according to some 
identifiable characteristic. The people who proposed the Anthropocene say 
humanity is responsible for the significant changes of the past centuries and 
changes in the future. But naming this geological period after humanity is kind 
of deterministic — “this is what humans have done”. And it is self-exulting — 
“look at our grand role in the history of the cosmos”.

But if you look at what is being projected, a better name might be 
Thanatopocene, after Thanatos, the Greek personification of death. It appears 
that instead of a grand exultation and transcendence of humanity, we are at a 
death spiral. So why exult ourselves with concepts like Anthropocene? I find its 
self-congratulatory power fantasy highly suspicious, at the very point where we 
ought to be looking at the good evidence that challenges the way of life that’s 
been built up over the last three centuries.

Full interview at

http://tinyurl.com/nuw6qjy

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr. John Hopkins, BSc, MFA, PhD
grounded on a granite batholith
twitter: @neoscenes
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/
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