[-empyre-] empyre Digest, Vol 118, Issue 1

[John Hopkins]

> But is not lost. I am intrigued and inspired by design practices that attempt
> to subvert the logic of neoliberalism. Design in the public interest,
> structures for inclusion, practices of commoning, and so forth are all
> exciting experiments with a more expanded understanding of the social basis
> of design as a constitutive power (to borrow from Hardt and Negri).

Problem is, 99.999% of 'design practices' (as a 
cultural-social-academic-economic 'manifestation') are enclosed by a complete 
dependence on the wider hydrocarbon energy system -- precisely because those 
practices grew out of and exist because of the excess that contemporary 
(technological) energy sources have (temporarily and unsustainably!) produced...

And, actually, we *will* eventually consume our way out of the environmental 
'problem' -- when the energy source is all consumed, then there will be a 
massive re-set of the system. When the sustainable pre/post hydrocarbon 
population settles down to somewhere between, say, 0.5 and 1.0 billion of the 
human species, the environment will slowly re-evolve into something entirely 
different. (This scenario seems to be the most likely, as there is *no* slowing 
of consumption apparent on the wide scale...!) In some ways, it is a standard 
that it an anathema to Life (as a phenomena) to *not* consume when there is an 
available energy source. Humans try to think themselves out of this need for 
Life to consume energy to project itself into the future. But it would appear 
that the conscious thoughts aren't enough to change the actions that are a core 
part of evolved life.

So, bravo for thinking about the practices, but for the practices to be 
actualized we should suspend remote conversations that are mediated by a massive 
global telecommunications infrastructure that is fully dependent on 
hydrocarbons. (We are the neo-liberals here communicating via this technology). 
Didn't Graham Harwood, or someone else of that ilk make a calculation as to how 
much energy is expended in sending an email?

A few cents of afternoon meditation after having to walk home with a flat tire 
on my bike through sonic clouds of screeching cicadas. They will be around 
longer than we shall, neoloberalism or not!

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