The atmosphere of hopelessness and disbelief in change is one of the signature marks of our zeitgeist. In his lecture as part of the Resources thematic block, philosopher Franco “Bifo” Berardi will trace the genealogy of such attitudes. What may be a possible breakthrough in this predicament? What could become the source of hope today, locally and globally?
Franco “Bifo” Berardi about his lecture: “I'll talk about depression in the novels of Jonathan Franzen and of Michel Houellebecq, about the suicidal terrorism that is spreading in the world. Impotence is the prevailing sentiment of politics and of daily life, the ineffectiveness of social action and the impossibility of government of the psychosphere. I'll try to understand the meaning and implication of the contemporary suicidal wave in the frame of financial capitalism, and I'll try to define the present phase of the world in terms of global civil war.
Then, I'll try to understand if there is a future of possibility beyond the present age of impotence. Beyond impotence a possibility is implied in the social existence of millions of cognitive workers. The movement Occupy has marked the first attempt of reactivation of the social body of the cognitarians of the world.”