Perdre la mesure… Or, The Ecologics of Extinction

What is it about?

The essay takes its cue from Olivier Rey’s recent book Une question de taille [a question of size] and develops the idea of humanity ‘losing its measure, or scale’ in the face of contemporary threats of ecological catastrophe. Through a reading of the recent science fiction film Interstellar, this essay aims to illustrate the dilemma and the resulting stalemate between two apparent ‘alternatives’ that the film proposes: does humanity’s future lie in self-abandoning or in self-surpassing, in investing in conservation or in exoplanets?

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Why is it important?

The essay questions the alternative between human self-abandoning or self-surpassing (or the two forms of "posthumanism", as one might call them) and critiques of both of their resulting "ecologics". Instead, it shows how they both depend on a dubious attempt by humans to ‘argue themselves out of the picture’, while leaving most their anthropocentric principles intact. The article is therefore part of a critical engagement with posthumanist theories of ecology, ethics and politics.