Liberalism
The Anthropocene Project. An Encyclopedia
The freedom to do something collides in reality with the freedom of the others. At least with the freedom of the majority, or those in power. Take anything from homosexuality to bank robbery—or perhaps here are the chances. Among the disadvantages of liberalism is that it always leads to results that overtax us. This brings us closer to the previously inconceivable in the Anthropocene and the fears it involves. We can’t get it under control. A veritable monster. A turn of thought: how do hundreds of millions of dollars on researching a link between bacteria and genes correlate with the survival of a mythical figure on the Australian coast, with the outer borders of the EU that invisibly stretch far into Africa’s interior due to economic aid? In one case, the state devours a myth in the name of freedom and regurgitates it as a crippled monster, in the case of the EU’s outer borders it tries to regulate the demon of free mobility. In the case of the gene-bacteria hybrids, it’s worth looking at films and television programs on zombies: who wins against whom and who are behind the productions, throughout film history from Hollywood to the independents, to Russia, China, or Ghana. What does this have to do with liberalism? The loss of control would be one possible response. What order are we talking about when we talk about freedom, or monsters?
More information in the media section
Geontologies: A Requiem to Late Liberalism. Keynote by Elizabeth A. Povinelli
The Anthropocene: Where on Earth Are We Going? Keynote by Will Steffen
