What is it about?
The article follows the traces of two opposing statements about the photographic representation of the Earth as a globe. One of these statements suggests that the first photographs of the Earth as a globe engendered notions of care. The other suggests that these photographs eventually enforced the carelessness that led to the climate crisis. The article analyses the globe as an image, and the sentiments that accompanied it since the first photographs of our planet from space were published in 1968. Based on this analysis, the article proposes a process through which we could recreate relationships with Earth that are marked by care.
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Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The article outlines how the cultural meaning of the whole Earth representation changed in parallel with the appropriation of the image by the large technological enterprises that emerged from America’s counterculture. It investigates the possibility of the coexistence of ‘views from within’ and ‘views from without’ following a detour with Gregory Bateson via Bali. Linking Bateson's conceptualization of grace as an integrating force to the second-order conversations of Gordon Pask, the article proposes a Cybernetics of Grace as a practice of resistance against emotional detachment and the related lack of care.
Perspectives
In his discourse on grace, Gregory Bateson relies on Aldous Huxley who had included the concept in his perennial philosophy, highlighting that grace transcends times and cultures. Carrying notions of virtuosity and kindness, grace creates meaning in human lives.
Dr. Claudia Westermann
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: On globes, the Earth and the Cybernetics of Grace, Technoetic Arts, June 2021, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/tear_00049_1.
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