Who Made the Planet Sad? Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker's 'Sad Planets'
Jul 23, 2024
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Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker discuss the sadness of the universe and the implications of climate change. They explore the concept of sadness beyond human emotion, the influence of social media on emotions, and the portrayal of sadness in modern media. The conversation touches on philosophical and political concepts related to the general economy of sadness and global surplus distribution.
Sadness as a planetary concept challenges individual-centric views on emotions and cosmic sorrow.
Speculative approach in 'Sad Planets' combines 'sad' with 'planets' to explore existential melancholia.
Exploring the interplay between personal grief and environmental crises, highlighting the complex emotions within a cosmic context.
Deep dives
Exploring the Shift from Worlds to Planets
The podcast delves into the transition from conceiving of worlds to contemplating planets as distinct entities, questioning how our perception has shifted from the limits of Earth to viewing planets as tangible objects. Discussions highlight the speculative nature of this transition, emphasizing the contextual lens through which distinctions between planets and worlds emerge.
The Concept of Sad Planets
The episode introduces the concept of 'Sad Planets,' discussing how the idea emerged from experimental courses and collaborative musings. The co-authors explore the speculative nature of combining 'sad' and 'planets,' shaping the book through thought experiments and probes rather than firm arguments. This approach leads to a fragmented structure emphasizing different perspectives on worlds and planets.
The Intersection of Sadness and Planetary Perspectives
By linking sadness to planetary perspectives, the podcast explores the role of sadness in confronting the situatedness of humanity in the face of global crises. Discussions highlight the interplay between personal experiences of grief and environmental anxieties, emphasizing the complex relationship between individual emotions and vast cosmic considerations.
The Energetics and General Economy of Sadness
The episode contemplates the energetics and economy of sadness, drawing parallels with themes from George Bataille's work and concepts of expenditure and loss. While touching on the intensities of sadness, the dialogue reframes humanistic approaches towards understanding and sharing emotions, infusing a critical inquiry into the broader notions of sadness within a planetary context.
Media Influence on Sadness and Affect
Addressing the impact of media on sadness and affect, the podcast analyzes the pervasive role of social media in shaping collective emotions and individual experiences of sadness. It explores the dynamic interplay between media platforms, affective responses, and societal melancholia, highlighting the complex relationship between online interactions and personal emotional landscapes.
Buy the book from Polity: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=sad-planets--9781509562350
Sad PlanetsDominic Pettman, Eugene Thacker“Everything is sad,” wrote the Ancient poets. But is this sadness merely a human experience, projected onto the world, or is there a gloom attributable to the world itself? Could the universe be forever weeping the “tears of things”?
In this series of meditations, Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker explore some of the key “negative affects” – both eternal and emergent – associated with climate change, environmental destruction, and cosmic solitude. In so doing they unearth something so obvious that it has gone largely unnoticed: the question of how we should feel about climate change. Between the information gathered by planetary sensors and the simple act of breathing the air, new unsettling moods are produced for which we currently lack an adequate language. Should we feel grief over the loss of our planet? Or is the strange feeling of witnessing mass extinction an indicator that the planet was never “ours” to begin with? Sad Planets explores this relationship between our all-too-human melancholia and a more impersonal sorrow, nestled in the heart of the cosmic elements.
Spanning a wide range of topics – from the history of cosmology to the “existential threat” of climate change – this book is a reckoning with the limits of human existence and comprehension. As Pettman and Thacker observe, never before have we known so much about the planet and the cosmos, and yet never before have we felt so estranged from that same planet, to say nothing of the stars beyond.