ABSTRACT
From the start, the meaning of the Anthropocene epoch has been played out between the transhumanist trajectory of modern technological systems and the idea of a regulative fragility of nature that ought to inform the evolution of technology. I will be concerned with the process through which the neoliberal imaginary has come to dominate alternative narratives of sacrifice, reflection, slow science, and sustainable development. Under the neoliberal regime, a planetary aesthetic has taken shape that consists of orbital images that trace the light emissions of human activity on Earth, panoramic shots of the mega-structures which have altered the contours of the planet, and cityscapes that reveal the technological networks in which we, as a species, now live. This is part of a cultural imaginary that presents Earth as a ‘spacecraft’ whose organic systems are enmeshed with the networks of industrial civilization, and whose continued viability as a habitat depends on the accelerated evolution of technology. I will argue that this configuration of the Anthropocene is related to a kind of technological messianism which assumes that the endemic problems of late modernity – climate change, hyperexploitation, environmental despoliation, etc. – will be solved by future technological innovations.
