The Comb Lab letter : Climate resilience, technology and geopolitics
Even before the creation of Comb Lab, we surprised people by posing as a central problem the interactions between climate change, geopolitics and the technologisation of societies. Neglecting to take a global view of these contemporary phenomena is a recipe for disharmony. Let’s take a closer look…
1. Climate and biodiversity.
At the beginning of the summer of 2024, the 50 degrees Celsius recorded in several South-East Asian countries forced the local authorities to declare climatic confinements. The 30 degrees Celsius recorded in the Mediterranean waters between Corsica and the mainland do not augur well for the future. Finally, the continuation of mega-fires in North America and in the immediate vicinity of Athens are considerably increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases.
Economic and political decision-makers are aware of the challenges posed by the intensification of climate and environmental issues. However, as they are not directly exposed to these large-scale disasters, they are concentrating on the very short term, which – rightly or wrongly – is weighing on them.
2. Geopolitics
The strategies deployed by countries seeking to subvert Western liberal democracy involve a race to register trademarks and standards in order to downgrade Western international standards governing industry, trade, transport, etc., as well as cultural policies of influence.
On 31 August 2024, for example, the newspaper Le Monde published an article in which the authors reacted to the fact that the Musée du Quai Branly now refers to ‘objects from the Xizang Autonomous Region’, thus removing the word Tibet from its catalogue. For its part, the Musée Guimet has replaced the name Tibet with ‘Himalayan World’. A formidable capacity for influence!
Closer to home, the populist nationalist upsurge that is driving political life in many countries, including our own, is manifesting itself closer to home at the start of the new literary season. Independent booksellers are under unexpected pressure to stop the distribution of essays on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the reactionary wave and other topical issues. 1
3. The technologisation of societies
Yuk Hui writes: ‘What is important is to realise that Chinese government is already serving as a model for Western forms of exercising power. It (Chinese government) has already won.2
Proof of this is the law of 19 May 2023 on security during the Olympic Games3, in particular with regard to ‘algorithmic video surveillance’ (VSA)4 giving rise to the installation of ‘augmented cameras’. These legal security provisions relating to the Olympic Games will run from their publication in the Official Journal on 20 May 2023 until June 2025. This is intended to facilitate the eventual incorporation of experimental legislation into ordinary law, as was the case with the exceptional anti-terrorism legislation of 2015 and the exceptional health legislation of 2020. On 4 May, before the start of the Olympic Games, the National Assembly was already examining the extension of these measures to transport.
To conclude
We would like to draw attention here to the fact that geopolitics and technology interact, as evidenced by the standardisation of governance models. What’s more, technology, at least in the West, belongs to private companies that have become political players at both national and international levels. Companies whose libertarian owners advocate technosolutionism in the face of climate change – when this is not simply denied.
We are all constantly interacting with these influential pressures in various ways, while legal measures silently govern our behaviour and, more broadly, societal processes. What’s more, we all seemingly validate on a daily basis minor malfunctions5 and infringements of individual freedoms. All these measures obliterate the responsiveness of those involved in transition, their scope for initiative and the space for creativity that is the fuel of resilience. Organised civil society, local executives, ordinary citizens – we are all affected by this accumulation of concessions – generally conscious – to a form of decline in liberal democracy. What are the tools we need to get out of this situation? Free and verified information, free and decent speech, and the coordination of local and national governments to bring about a genuine transition.
What criteria and indirect influences will be used to arbitrate competing uses of water, land and forests? What local measures exist or need to be taken? We’ll be discussing these issues in our next newsletter.
1 https://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2024/08/21/la-rentree-des-essais-en-prise-avec-l-actualite_6289850_3260.html
2 Yuk Hui La question de la technique en Chine Éditions Divergences 2021.
https://www.revue-ballast.fr/yuk-hui-produire-des-technologies-alternatives
3 https://www.vie-publique.fr/loi/287639-jo-2024-loi-du-19-mai-2023-jeux-olympiques-et-paralympiques
4 https://www.laquadrature.net/2024/05/14/vsa-lassemblee-discute-deja-son-extension-aux-transports/
5 Philippe Silberzahn Comment les organisations en déclin s’habituent à la médiocrité —How declining organizations get used to mediocrity
