Planetary Nomics (Sheltering Places s05e01)

A conversation for The New Centre for Research and Practice with Benjamin Bratton, moderated by Zé Antônio Magalhães and Zenóbio Almeida

The convergence of technological acceleration, the climate crisis, and global emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic (which aren’t expected to become any less frequent) are rapidly changing the ways earthly existence is organized. And this is only the beginning. Both Bratton and Likavcan have at some point drawn on Carl Schmitt’s concept of the nomos – a concrete order which manifests itself in space and infrastructure – to confront such expanded geopolitics ranging from technology platforms to ecosystems. Yet they are both critical of Schmitt, with his reactionary emphasis on mythical thinking, the drawing of borders, and the authenticity of land and nation. In contrast to Schmitt’s phobia of abstraction and of technical governance, our guests affirm the abstract, and envisage, in Bratton’s expression, a “positive biopolitics.” No problem with mixing nomos and economics; no fear of the end of the Political. In this episode, we will discuss what sort of concepts we should mobilize to think, model and implement non-Schmittian planetary nomics.