Timothy Morton he is a mysterious character. Professor of English at Rice University, specializing in environmental and cultural studies, and a leading member of materialistic philosophy movement. Their latest book “Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology“explores how religion meets science in strange and surprising ways, while another recent project involved working with Andrew Melchior of UK trip-hop collective Massive Attack and MIT’s. Kiyoshi Masui to make music with rapid radio burst.
They are also known – by their own embarrassing admission – as the “prophet of the Anthropocene.” We talked to them beforehand HowTheLightGetsIn Festival London, taking place this weekend (Sept. 21-22), about how they got this title, what the Anthropocene means, and why we should stop trying to explain what when did it begin and accept that we have been at it for thousands of years.
Alexander McNamara: You have been described as a “prophet of the Anthropocene.” Can you explain what the Anthropocene is and how you came up with the title?
Timothy Morton: It’s the title of an article about me in the Guardian newspaper born in 2017. This guy [Alex Blasdel] discussed with me and my colleagues and friends for about half a year and produced this great piece of thinking called “The Philosopher Prophet of the Anthropocene” and I .
At the time there weren’t that many people in the humanities who were really looking at this [the Anthropocene]. I was traveling around the world talking about an idea I came up with called Hyperobjectswhich many people have found as a way to think, talk, and make art about global warming. It’s a big and big thing, it’s hard to see. You can visualize it, you can understand it, but you can’t see it “it.” It has this kind of negative, multidimensional quality, and the Anthropocene is the same thing.
It is a geological period – and I will give a strict definition of the Anthropocene – there is a layer of man-made material in the upper part of the Earth’s crust that goes back to about 10,000 BC And it is the Anthropocene that scientists of geology are. to talk about. This layer is everywhere.
It is a difficult question for people to ask themselves. It is a time that is strongly contested now because they [the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), which approves new geological time periods] decided to nix the idea.
All we have to do is realize that something is happening in the ecosystem, people are doing it, and it’s happening on a large scale.
Timothy Morton
Since that happened, I have been on trial. I wrote a piece about how to reject this idea is a terrible mistake. It is scientifically incorrect to deny the fact that there is a layer of man-made plastic mixed with concrete mixed with clay within the upper part of the Earth’s crust.
The fact that there are these things everywhere should not be a proof of human greatness in any way, it is just the fact that humans became a geophysical force on a planetary scale. From a scientific point of view, that is neither good nor bad. It’s just a thing, right?
AM: So when did the Anthropocene begin?
TM: It’s hard to catch this unless you realize that the event is more like an explosion or a burst in a pool than a spot on Wikipedia. [time]line. In fact, I will be very firm and say, it is not a dot on the line, it is still moving.
[When] People began to live throughout the Earth, there was a slight global warming that caused a lack of food, so people began to build cities, which were actually and great treasures for mankind. And this produced measurable results.
Then, in 1945 there was this “golden rush,” where all of the Earth’s systems suddenly went haywire. There were points to build [prior to this day] but then there is this absurd truth behind it [the Second World War]there’s a layer of radio nucleotides and stuff like that on the surface of the earth, [which] it’s another moment of the Anthropocene people calling the big race.
AM: Why is it important that we let go of this idea that we’ve got a clear point, and just accept that we’re in the Anthropocene?
TM: To some extent, who cares when [the Anthropocene] start? Who cares why it started? All we have to do is realize that something is happening in the biosphere, people are doing it and it is happening on a large scale. I don’t have to waste time proving when it happened, when it started or who did it.
The same is true of global warming. The first rule of survival in horror is to know you are in horror. This happened. Rubbernecking how and why is one thing, how to get the hell out of there is another, right?
We are all small people in relation to the planet. Part of our problem is that we have been reduced to being little people watching big people in a way [oil companies]committing crimes against our bodies and the bodies of other life forms and is very disturbing and frightening. When you are in an emotional state, [you put your fingers in your ears and say] it certainly doesn’t happen or hasn’t happened yet. But there is a kind of relief in knowing that it has already happened.
I think that’s another reason why people have a problem with the Anthropocene; tell you that something bad has happened. Humans have done something, and have been doing it for 12,000 years, by especially in the last 50 years [by] burning so much fuel. I want to help people believe that we did it. It is caused by the release of fatty acids. Let’s commit to stopping those fossil fuel emissions. Surprisingly, the solution is very simple. Just stop burning them. Why don’t we do it? That is a complicated question.
Live Science has partnered with the HowTheLightGetsIn festival, which runs from September 21 to 22 at Kenwood House in London. See how you can get a special discount.
#Philosopher #Timothy #Morton #humans #long #worldly #powers #world #good #bad