Event Details

CeMoRe invites you to attend this talk given by Peter Dickens (Postponed from 27th November) "The spread of society into outer space is proceeding apace...

CeMoRe invites you to attend this talk given by Peter Dickens (Postponed from 27th November)

“The spread of society into outer space is proceeding apace. To an increasing extent the cosmos is being occupied by spacecraft, satellites and a space station occupied by astronauts. Meanwhile movies such as Moon, Wall-E and The Martian offer visions as to what a ‘humanised’ outer space might look like and be experienced. This lecture will run a sociologist’s eye over these developments. They do not necessarily call for a radical and new form of sociology. Space-humanisation is, after all, an extension of already-familiar processes, these including (1) the continuing privatisation of public assets, (2) assertions of prestige and power by competing governments and (3) demands by wealthy elites to assert their identities through tourism. But these familiar processes also present new challenges and dangers. The body in outer space encounters, for example, many kinds of danger in this ‘hostile’ environment. And the ‘night’ and ‘day’ rhythms of the astronaut’s body will almost always be in conflict with the actual ‘nights’ and ‘days’ experienced in outer space. More important still, it seems only a matter of time until wars will be conducted in outer space. It is important for us to understand, and if necessary challenge these developments. This lecture is intended to be a starting-point for discussion and debate.”

Peter Dickens was trained as an architect and has written widely on contemporary relations between society and nature. Working in the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, he has been conducting sociological research on outer space for 13 years, often in close collaboration with James Ormrod