A Universe of Capital. The Overcoming of Terrestrial Reason

Within the three-part lecture series “Fremder Planet/ Strange Planet”, philosopher Jan Völker will look at the spacefaring renaissance under the portent of privatisation in December. Tourists are being shot into space, plans for asteroid mining envisaged, while the search for new sites for humanity is underway – thus begins space colonisation. This correlates with the creation of a new image of humanity, in which reality should agree with imagination without suffering any distortion. It is an image devoid of any subconscious. This idea of humanity does not only seek to transcend the boundaries set for reason as founded by Kant, but also the image of the Earth as shaped by the Apollo missions that showed it as human environment, pushing towards care for the planet. In the eye of capital, Earth manifests as a place deserted in the future, as the springboard for a new reality of humanity – abandoned to the coming apocalypse. This and further topics will be discussed and talked about.

About the lecture series
Global ecological and political challenges mark our present; we experience a rapid development of artificial intelligence as well as a spacefaring revival. Is there a correlation between these phenomena? And what is their link to the resurgence of authoritarian governmental regimes? The lectures in this series examine the change of the image humans create of themselves and the world – with Ulrike Haß, Jan Völker, and Samo Tomšič.