Video: Paolo Bartoloni and Enea Bianchi on 'Life Deactivated: Philosophies on the End of the World'

Paolo Bartoloni and Enea Bianchi introduce the Theory, Culture & Society article ‘Life Deactivated: Philosophies on the End of the World’

Abstract

This article examines apocalyptic scenarios and their philosophical implications through the lens of Italian philosophy, game and literary studies. Through Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of ‘inoperativity’ and ‘technologia sacra’, the study critiques various proposed responses to global crises, from technological utopianism to primitivist returns to nature, highlighting possible issues and limitations. Central to the discussion is the relationship between human and non-human entities, culture and nature, and the potential for a post-anthropocentric worldview. In the last section, the article proposes that the viral perspective presented in the video game The Last of Us offers a provocative model for reimagining human subjectivity and our relationship to the world, suggesting new ways of conceptualizing agency, intentionality, and ethics in the Anthropocene, emphasizing the entanglement of all forms of life and matter.