ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts a synthesis of two seemingly disparate thinkers: Lewis Mumford and Georges Bataille. By taking up Mumford’s notion of the organization of society itself as a “megamachine,” alongside Bataille’s general economy that argues all energy is solar waste and its capture for human purposes is only temporary, this chapter builds some theoretical scaffolding for thinking about political economies of extraction. Particularly, synthesizing these two strands sheds light on the limits of terrestrial extraction, and thereby situates theorizing energy as a question of social organization and sumptuous excess. This chapter argues that Mumford and Bataille coalesce around two main foci. First, that all energy that is captured for human use must eventually be squandered unproductively; the question is what to build with that energy in the short time humans have it. Second, that the general organization of society being geared toward capturing energy introduces a class element, necessitating a political engagement with questions of sovereignty, growth, and culture. The chapter concludes with a call to be wary when the ruling class wants to steer the megamachine into new avenues of energy production, instead arguing that this synthesis provides ways of reconceiving energy usage more democratically and less destructively.
