Brutalismo

Against the hegemony of the idea that everything is quantifiable, the philosopher Achille Mbembe examines in this brief essay the founding principles and the political consequences of a new world order fueled by both abstract rationalities and animist aspirations. Capital now penetrates all spheres of existence and human societies are organized according to the same directive, that of Big Data. But the old world of bodies and distances, spaces, objects and borders continues to exist despite this transformation. We are currently witnessing a spectacular comeback of animism at the same time that the expansion of quantification is causing an unprecedented acceleration of the digitization of humanity. This digitization of humanity and its counterpart, the humanization of objects and machines, result in brutalism, a concept that Achille Mbembe defines as the close overlap between economic, electronic, and biological thought. This new essay by Achille Mbembe examines the political consequences of this new technological system and proposes solutions to some of the big questions facing the human race in this century: overpopulation, protocols related to security technologies, circulation of people and objects, the future of life and reason or, again, the commitment to a low-carbon economy. The transformation of humanity into matter and energy is the ultimate project of brutalism. This essay advocates in favor of a refounding of the human community in solidarity with all living beings, which will only happen, however, on condition that what has been damaged is repaired.