The Ministry for the Future 18-37: Impersonal Challenges, Charismatic Megafauna, Liberal Realism, Intention and Action

In this (very long) episode we discuss roughly chapters 18-37, with a special focus on Frank. What does Frank want? Does he know? The gap between intention and action under capitalism, trapped in our subjectivity and ideology, is a focus of the first part of the ep. Then we run into the technical difficulties and pick back up to talk about the challenges this novel poses to us as a novel. If the realist novel of the 19th century focused itself through a charismatic main character with broadly heroic qualities, The Ministry for the Future is a significant departure from that. We talk about how TMftF challenges us to think beyond individuals and gives us a bigger picture of the multi-dimensional and multi-generational problems humanity will face between now and basically the rest of its existence. No charismatic megafauna are going to either save you or give you an adequate locus of your pathetic cathexis. Today, the challenge is to abandon liberal empathy as a criterion for deeming an other worthy of living and having their needs met in favor of a politics that encompasses the impersonal, one that creates space for the rights of people from the future and non-human people today to exist. Also we discuss how cool it would if there were an eco-terrorist James Bond franchise and at 1 hour 26 minutes a cat purrs into the microphone. Still to come, one of our favorite topics: structure of feeling! Thanks for listening! Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars Leave us a voicemail on the Anchor.fm app Rate and review us on iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts! Music by Spirit of Space