Utopias as maps

Utopias as maps. (Tally 2013, Thaler 2022). To orient ourselves in a new landscape (e.g. the anthropocene, the post-normal, the polycrisis …) we need new maps (and also need to get rid of old maps.1[^2])

orientation hinges on the creation, maintenance and adjustment of new maps that are better suited to the changing circumstances. (Thaler 2022)

Here’s what utopias can do for us:

Utopias permit us to both gauge the utility of old maps for navigating a climate-changed world, and to draw new ones that guide our action as we move into a radically uncertain and risky future. (Thaler 2022)

The essential task of charting the future can only be accomplished with the support of visions and projects that traffic between two of utopianism’s domains: theory building and storytelling (Thaler 2022)

See also

Source

  • Thaler, M. (2022). No Other Planet
  • Tally, R. (2013). Utopia in the Age of Globalization

  1. Orienting oneself in a landscape that is deeply unsettling necessitates, first of all, the disposal of outdated, inadequate maps. (Thaler 2022)

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