Event overview
Lukaš Likavčan delivers our fourth talk, “No planetary without the extra-planetary”: Cosmic perspective, substrate-agnostic ecology, and care for technosphere'.
Outer space exploration has become the symbol of escapist tendencies that avoid the problems of climate breakdown by pointing at the possibility of human expansion beyond Earth. However, the dream of achieving escape velocity from our home planet is not the only possible cosmic perspective at our disposal.
Inspired by recent insights from astrobiology and philosophy of planetary computation, this talk will argue that we can instead take an extra-planetary approach which looks at our terrestrial base in the environmental thinking of its cosmic embedding, as one planet among others. Such an astronomical concept of the planet not only works against the separation of the planetary from the extra-planetary, but also against the traditional distinctions between organic and inorganic matter, or biosphere and technosphere.
While most theories of the planetary emphasise the uniqueness of the Earth in its capacity to bootstrap and sustain the evolution of complex lifeforms, the astronomical concept of the planet looks at ecology and evolution as generic cosmic phenomena. A meaningful terrestrial ecology of this kind transforms the usual connotations of environmental care to promote technologies among relevant ecological agents, towards what can be called a substrate-agnostic ecology. And this planetary ecology is a genre of applied astronomy—which is to say that there is no planetary without the extra-planetary.
BIO
Lukáš Likavčan is a philosopher focused on emerging technologies, ecology, and astronomy. In his work, Lukáš traces intertwined histories of scientific infrastructures, ideas, and cultures mobilized in human efforts to sustain planetary habitability.
Lukáš is a researcher at the Antikythera program, Berggruen Institute, and at the Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences. He teaches at MA Information Design, Design Academy Eindhoven, and at MA Narrative Environments, UAL Central Saint Martins, where he is responsible for co-curating an R&D platform Earthsuits.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Dec 2025 | 5:30pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
