The conference started from a sombre premise. What Heidegger called Gestell, or “enframing” – the rather terrifying notion that in our industrial, technological world, entities only exist by being regarded as resources, or means to an end – has spread its remorseless dominion over the Earth. The university itself is heading towards becoming a sort of simulacrum, in Baudrillard’s terms, where an essentially meaningless exercise in going through hoops is rewarded by a certificate. As for the earth itself, talk of natural resources, natural capital, ecosystem services and so on, which treats the Earth as a service provider for the global capitalist economy, has become so commonplace that its essential strangeness goes unnoticed.

¶ 5:03 PM