How do the figures of the planet through which we think of the Earth inform the design of Planetary Energetic Infrastructures?
ACT 1
A deserted highway near Mount Clarke. Beside it, Ben, Sophie and Buddy the hitchhikers stand, shielding their eyes from the glaring sun
(1)Avanessian and Falb. The Earth is in this condition because of human civilization.
(2)Avanessian and Falb, pg. 10
(3)Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Susanne M. Winterling, »The imperative to make the imagination flexible
(4)Lukáš Likavčan,Introduction to comparative planetology, p. 22. (editied)
(5)Avanessian and Falb p. 85.
(6)Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Imperative to Re-Imagine the Planet”, 339
(7)Avanessian and Falb
(8)Avanessian and Falb
(9)Avanessian and Falb
BEN: How far are we from Vegas? (fig 3)
SOPHIE: A couple of rides away, if anyone’s willing to give one.
BEN: [waving cars to stop] The sun is harsh Sophie, we’d better get a ride soon, or we’re gonna be roasted out here.
SOPHIE: I know it is hot but “Is there anything else to inhabit other than planets?” (1)
BEN: You are always so quick to jump to theory. Are we really talking about the globe right now?
SOPHIE: Ben, do you ever feel like we’re just terrible people, messing with the Earth’s natural balance.
BEN: No! Not really because “Aren’t Earth-like planets precisely the places in the universe – and perhaps the only ones – that are outright ready for the intervention of the intelligent civilizations they created or even co-evolved with them?”(2)
SOPHIE: Ben! Stop talking and focus more on getting us a ride!
BEN: Sophie, I might need you to lend a hand if we’re going to catch a ride.
SOPHIE: What do you want me to do?
BEN: You know what to do! come on!
SOPHIE: Okay, let me try!
BEN: I think I see a car slowing down! They might take us to the next stop and it’s a Tesla baby! (fig 4)
SOPHIE: Yes Finally, I love electric cars!
[car speeds up and leaves]
BEN: ahhhh, it didn’t stop, then why the hell did it slow down? What happened to basic humanity! No one gives a damn about anything.
SOPHIE: “The planet gives a damn. It is so other that it does not consolidate ourselves by being ‘our’ other” (3)
BEN: Sophie, what do you mean ? the planet or the globe? Because ”Without the image of Earth as a whole, there is no international order, hence no geopolitics, Which implies towards the Globe as a visual metaphor”(4) (fig 5)
SOPHIE: I mean the Planet, “The planetary, ultimately, is about how some very long term planetary processes involving both the living and the nonliving have provided, and keep providing, the enabling conditions for both human existence and flourishing” (5)
BEN: I would like to add that we both are agents of the globe and our actions are just entities to the globe.
SOPHIE: “If we imagine ourselves as planetary accidents rather than global agents, planetary creatures rather than global entities, alterity remains underived from us, it is not our dialectical negation, it contains us as much as it flings us away.”(6)
BEN: Sure, but as i understand that we as humans have a greater responsibility to use the planet to progress humanity forward so I don’t really align with this planetary logic.
SOPHIE: You should think about it a bit more because, “Planetary thinking refers to the Earth system, i.e. to the flow of energy and matter through the planet and a systematic linkage in biogeochemical cycles.”(7)
BEN: So, you mean to say, “humans merely “temporarily mediatize” Earth system processes into their societies and bind them there for a brief time before vanishing from the face of the Earth” (8)
SOPHIE: Yes, but it “implies that the emergence of an intelligent civilization does not add anything new or even essential to a planet and its history: the civilization remains superficial and external to the planet.”(9)
BEN: Wait, I see a truck slowing down.
[rolls the window down]
ANDRES: Hey homies, what’s up? Do you guys need a ride?
SOPHIE: Yes Please! Thank You so much. We have been waiting and entangling ourselves with various topics to keep us occupied.
ANDRES: Do y’all mind if i join the conversation, i am pretty bored myself.
BEN: Yes Sure, I am Ben, please help me out I am outnumbered by Sophie and Buddy.
[The trio board the truck for their journey ahead.]
ACT 2
The discussion progresses where the truck driver joins the debate , the pet dog continues to be cute and silent. (fig 7)
(10)Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Imperative to Re-Imagine the Planet”, in An Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization (Harvard University Press, 2012), 343.
(11)Gayatri Chakravarti Spivak, Death of a Discipline, New York 2003, p. 72.
ANDRES: Where are yall headed? What’s the conversation we are having?
BEN: We have plans in Vegas for the night but they might have to wait because Sophie thinks that “There is no place one literally comes from; there is only the past of departures and the future of arrivals, followed by even more departures. Humans in this view are treated only as custodians of the planet”(10)
SOPHIE: “The planet is in the species of alterity, belonging to another system; and yet we inhabit it, on loan.” (11)
ANDRES: oh! You guys have gone that deep into the conversation. Wait, let me put my drink down now.
Suddenly, Ben and Sophie are intrigued by the distant shimmering lights and they stop the conversation and start wondering about it. (fig 8)
(12)Avanessian and Falb p 42
BEN: Hey, what are those lights in the middle of the day? they look so divine
SOPHIE: Are those man-made ?
ANDRES: Hold your horses guys, you will know soon enough!
SOPHIE: They look so alien since “We have a conception of our planet in the present day: dominated by oceans, a green and blue place, and our place.”(12)
BEN: Andres I am getting a feeling you have some points that might pour light on the topic.
ANDRES: well what you see there is a glimpse into advancement of the globe.
[Ben pulls out his phone, frowning at the lack of reception.]
BEN: No bars. Seriously?
SOPHIE: [Looking out the window] You won’t get much out here. Not with that thing distorting the network.
[the facility is revealed]
ANDRES: Friends, This is the largest on ground Ivanpah solar power facility, spanning over 4000 Acres. (fig 9)
(13)Avanessian and Falb, pg. 18
(14)Liam Young, Machine Landscapes, Architectures of the post anthropocene, 2019 p, 1 (edited)
(15)Benjamin Bratton, »Planetary sapience«, 17. June 2021(paraphrased)
(16)Avanessian and Falb
(17)Jussi Parikka, A Geology of Media, , 5, 43, 45–58, 110.
SOPHIE: Are you serious? We should be conscious while building something so Massive because “Habitable planets are not inert lumps of matter.”(13) (fig 11)
BEN: Oh so this might be what we call machine landscapes, “The most significant architectural spaces in the world. We are going on a tour through these sites, to visit the landscapes and structures made for and by our machines”(14)
ANDRES: Well “I call this terraforming – not of another planet, but of our own.”(15)
SOPHIE: Andres you tell me .“Today, the Earth is covered by a network of sensors such as weather stations, satellites, research stations, etc., that produce large amounts of data which are fed into elaborate computer models of the climate and Earth system.” (16) Don’t you think that’s enough? (fig 10)
ANDRES: The farm has been built using the materials from the earth and once they become disposable from our point of view, they will return to the earth, “eventually rendering the planet itself: a sort of geological machine” (17)
BEN: Guys if we are continuing the conversation i need something to drink, Andres do you mind stopping at the gas station?
[The truck stops at the gas station and the group gets down for a drink] (fig 12)
ANDRES: That was quite a conversation back there. Your young friend is…intense.
BEN: I don’t know. She might be onto something. This whole Planetary thing…it’s got me thinking.
[Buddy starts running and Ben yells and chases after him. A small girl keya runs towards the dog.]
KEYA: Hey doggie are you lost?
BEN: Hey, how are you doing? His name is Buddy. He is my dog.
[The girls family show up]
SOPHIE: Hey guys, how are you all doing?
MICHAEL: Hi friends, I and my family are trying to get to vegas and our car ran out of power.
ANA: Unfortunately there is no Car charging outlet and we seem to be stuck here
KEYA: Dad lets go , Grandma is waiting for us!
MICHAEL: Yes sweetie, but we are out of power, and our car only runs on electricity, so we need to get a source of electricity for our car to be back on the road.
ACT 3
The family , the hitchhikers along with the truck driver are at the gas station putting the conversation to a stable thought, the scenery is of a massive field of metal and glass with towers of energy seen in the distance (fig 13)
(18)Avanessian and Falb p 42
(19)Lukáš Likavčan,Introduction to comparative planetology, p. 72. (editied)
(20)Lukas Likavan,Introduction to comparative planetology, pg 41
(21)Dipesh Chakrabarthy, “The Climate of History”, 208,210.
(22)Jennifer Gabrys, »Becoming Planetary«, e-Flux, October 2018 (edited)
(23)Lukas Likavan,Introduction to comparative planetology, pg 11 (edited)
KEYA: Dad, this dog is cute, i want one for my birthday
ANA: Hey friends, please excuse her for playing with your dog. We were afraid that he might bite her which was the reason for us not stopping by earlier, we are really sorry for that.
BEN: Not a problem, we understand your concern and don’t worry he won’t bite.
ANDRES: [Laughing] It’s ironic that your car breaks down right in front of a solar power plant.
ANA: Our source of power is right here but leaves us helpless for now, makes me wonder about the future.
ANDRES: What’s there to think about? You drive, you fly, you use electricity. “as we go back in time and forward in time, we find that the Earth was and absolutely will be a place very different from the planet we now call home.” (18)
SOPHIE: Yes I agree, “There were eons of geological processes that did well without the help of the human species, and they will surely do well too after humanity’s extinction.”(19)
ANA: Maybe the Earth doesn’t need us at all. We’ve just convinced ourselves that we’re essential, “these infrastructures also display self-cannibalizing tendencies, since computation is always a physical process involving the transformation of matter to energy, and energy to information.”(20)
BEN: So , what you are trying to ask is that “most of our freedom is far energy intensive”, “Hence do we pay for the pursuit of freedom?” (21)
MICHAEL: I wish to pour light upon “Technology – especially computational technology – is analyzed as something on the ›scale‹ of the planetary. Technology is seen to overrun and command the planetary. This total view of Earth has an even longer history within modes of control and colonialism.”(22) (fig 14)
ANDRES: You all are talking about the globe, the planetary but what about the terrestrial planet? which “ focuses on the life-support systems of the planetary assemblage, or even treating the planet as a giant living being.” (23) (fig 15)
(24)Avanessian and Falb, pg. 14
SOPHIE: Sure, Andres but something this large, like a power plant, must have a tremendous impact, and that’s exactly how I feel about it!
ANDRES: Guys , this is the 21st century , we have bigger problems like earth sensing , data collection, A big power plant doesn’t really matter much, does it?
MICHAEL: I agree with Andres “Earth sensing can appear as problematic where it does not sufficiently illuminate the concrete actors behind the data collections and the computer modeling and ignores their power effects.”(24)
ANA: Michael you shouldn’t ignore the problem which is right in front of us, the problem is the scale of this massive facility.
BEN: [checking his phone] why was i so worried about it because when i look at it on my phone its not that massive(fig 16).
(25)Spivak, Death of a discipline, 72(edited)
SOPHIE: No, it is huge, “The globe is on our computers. No one lives there. It allows us to think that we can aim to control it.” (25)
ANA: Ben can we use your phone to find a place nearby to charge our car.
[Michael goes near the cafe to find the network]
MICHAEL: [laughing] Hey guys we have some bars ,and i am able to find a place nearby. You might not like it but it’s the Power Plant.
THE END
Bibliography
1. “The Earth is in this condition because of human civilization” – Avanessian and Falb
2. “The imperative to make the imagination flexible” – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Susanne M. Winterling
3. “Introduction to comparative planetology” – Lukáš Likavčan
4. “Imperative to Re-Imagine the Planet” – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
5. “Imperative to Re-Imagine the Planet” – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, , in An Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization (Harvard University Press, 2012)
6. “Death of a Discipline”, New York 2003 – Gayatri Chakravarti Spivak
7. “Machine Landscapes, Architectures of the post anthropocene”, 2019 – Liam Young
8. “Planetary sapience” 17. June 2021 – Benjamin Bratton
9. “A Geology of Media” – Jussi Parikka
10. “Introduction to comparative planetology” – Lukáš Likavčan
11. “The Climate of History” – Dipesh Chakrabarthy
12. Jennifer Gabrys, Becoming Planetary, e-Flux, October 2018
13. “Death of a discipline” – Spivak
