Abysses, abysses and exo-worlds. Techniques & Culture n°75.
EHESS| N° d'inventaire | 23850 |
| Format | 21 x 24 |
| Détails | 221 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | nine |
| ISBN | 9782713228742 |
At a time when the much-feared scenario of an Earth that may soon be uninhabitable for humans is becoming clearer, this issue of Techniques & Culture questions our visceral attraction to borderline environments, distant, mysterious worlds; yet, for us, hostile, deleterious, even fatal. How do terrestrial abysses, underwater abysses, or even exoplanets and the void of space stimulate our curiosity and creativity? What do these peregrinations to the confines of the inhabited world teach us about our "terrestrial nature," the link that unites us to Gaia, its plasticity and our capacities to make the world, from where? We invite us to think about these environments that impose other conditions of life and existence on those who explore, visit, inhabit and/or exploit them, in particular because of the confinement techniques they imply. From confinement in underground tunnels to the encapsulation of space stations, including a whole arsenal of autosuggestions such as meditation, these techniques both confine and allow us to plunge ever deeper into the unknown. The description of these devices, however, shows their porosity to the abysses distributed on both sides of the protections we oppose to them. This allows us to think anew about the relationship between human subjects and environments, between interiority and exteriority. To what extent is it technically possible/desirable to confine ourselves, to isolate ourselves from our surrounding environment or, on the contrary, to plunge headlong into it? To what extent do the explorations of limit environments open up inspiring passages between technophobia and technophilia? Does the conquest of more or less distant and inhospitable elsewhere allow us to glimpse a redirection of our human adventure?
At a time when the much-feared scenario of an Earth that may soon be uninhabitable for humans is becoming clearer, this issue of Techniques & Culture questions our visceral attraction to borderline environments, distant, mysterious worlds; yet, for us, hostile, deleterious, even fatal. How do terrestrial abysses, underwater abysses, or even exoplanets and the void of space stimulate our curiosity and creativity? What do these peregrinations to the confines of the inhabited world teach us about our "terrestrial nature," the link that unites us to Gaia, its plasticity and our capacities to make the world, from where? We invite us to think about these environments that impose other conditions of life and existence on those who explore, visit, inhabit and/or exploit them, in particular because of the confinement techniques they imply. From confinement in underground tunnels to the encapsulation of space stations, including a whole arsenal of autosuggestions such as meditation, these techniques both confine and allow us to plunge ever deeper into the unknown. The description of these devices, however, shows their porosity to the abysses distributed on both sides of the protections we oppose to them. This allows us to think anew about the relationship between human subjects and environments, between interiority and exteriority. To what extent is it technically possible/desirable to confine ourselves, to isolate ourselves from our surrounding environment or, on the contrary, to plunge headlong into it? To what extent do the explorations of limit environments open up inspiring passages between technophobia and technophilia? Does the conquest of more or less distant and inhospitable elsewhere allow us to glimpse a redirection of our human adventure?