Podcast
Behind the Bastards
This book explores the concept of 'hyperobjects', massive entities that transcend our normal perception of time and space, like climate change. It argues that hyperobjects directly cause us to reflect on our place on Earth and in the cosmos.
Consider raindrops. You can feel them on your head, but you can't perceive the actual raindrop in itself. You can only ever perceive your particular anthropomorphic translation of the raindrops. Isn't...
— Episode: It Could Happen Here Weekly 18
Episode: It Could Happen Here Weekly 18
This book explores the concept of 'hyperobjects', massive entities that transcend our normal perception of time and space, like climate change. It argues that hyperobjects directly cause us to reflect on our place on Earth and in the cosmos.
Consider raindrops. You can feel them on your head, but you can't perceive the actual raindrop in itself. You can only ever perceive your particular anthropomorphic translation of the raindrops. Isn't this similar to the rift between weather, which I can feel falling on my head, and global climate? Not the older idea of local patterns of weather, but the entire system. I can think of and compute climate in this sense, but I can't directly see or touch it. The gap between the phenomenon and the thing yawns wide open, disturbing my sense of presence and being in the world.
...light itself is the most viscous thing of all, since nothing can surpass its speed.