Section
Systems and Futures
-
“No Future” Lexicon: Nothingness
Beyond the existential and metaphysical anxiety it provokes, nothingness also constitutes an ontological opening: it compels societies to produce symbolic and cultural responses to ward off the fear of chaos.
-
“No Future” Lexicon: Darkness
Darkness often appears as a solely obscure and secondary trait of modernity; but, in truth, darkness impregnates and bolsters so densely modernity’s creative powers.
-
“No Future” Lexicon: The Post-Post-Apocalyptic
But what lies beyond the end of the world? Casting off the trappings accreted by the post-apocalyptic genre emerge stories of the post-post-apocalyptic.
-
“No Future”: A Lexicon
If the future hasn’t changed in the past, how could it possibly change now?
-
To Counteract Apocalyptic Technoscience, We Need New Myths
If there is contentment on the artist’s face, it is because she knows that she has left Babylon behind and is on her way to Zion.
-
Planetary Alchemy, or, Learning to Read the Earth with “Zelda”
“Tears of the Kingdom” lets you play through the planetary archive. In so doing, it suggests the pleasures of thinking at planetary scale.
-
Public Thinker: Infrastructure Tells Us That We Need One Another
“Seeing infrastructural systems for what they are requires us to understand them as the product of massive collective investment and to reflect on the value of that.”
-
Reality, as Seen by Godzilla
Perhaps the function of Godzilla is to trouble happily ever after.
-
The Revolution Will Be Caring
What makes something mutual aid or collective care and not capitalist charity?
-
Surfing; Or How to Consume a Beach
The keys to surfing—wetsuits, surf forecasting, and surfboard manufacturing—emerged from Southern California’s military-industrial complex.
-
“A New Life for Us”: Zelda and the Future of Stories
“As I continued to wander its world, I began to realize Tears of the Kingdom marks a new achievement in art itself.”
-
How to Embrace a Wildfire: A Path Out of the Smoke
Is there a path for living that acknowledges, and allows us to start from, our careful attachments in order to connect with others in politically productive ways?
-
Please Hold While I Disconnect You
Both novels and non-fiction suggest exhaustion, disappointment, and listlessness are central to digital capitalism.
-
Neoliberal Keywords: Creative, Passionate, Confident
When did we all become so empowered, passionate, and self-enterprising?
-
Can Solarpunk Save the World?
Today, solar power merely fuels capitalism and imperialism. But drawing power from the sun is so radical it might transform that status quo.
-
Andrea Hornick and Timothy Ingold: Designs for the Anthropocene
“We bring our own creativity into what we see—the seams get filled in, smoothed over, by our looking.”
-
Queer Ever After?
If queer today often looks rather like heteronormativity’s “sick and boring life,” how can we cultivate queerer worlds, or other possibilities?
-
How Will We Farm?
Farming and child-rearing seem natural, but they’re cultural. And like all cultural activities, generations disagree about how best to do them.
-
How to Dream beyond Oil
Energy sources shape, rather than simply serve, our social and cultural imaginaries. Recognizing this poses a different set of challenges for how we might contend with our current planetary emergency.
-
Stories of Soil, Soy, and Life Otherwise
What happens when thinking of soil as a living being and force, with whom the human world needs to repair and rebuild ties?
-
Personal Comfort, Planetary Costs
When an increasingly uncomfortable climate forces more of life indoors, who might be forced to bear the costs?
