Science, Technology, and Society Discussion Series – The Anthropocenic Sublime: A Critique

Sulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor, Barnard Hall, Barnard

This event is part of a series of discussions on Science, Technology, and Society, presented by  Columbia University and École polytechnique that will take place alternately in New York City and Paris, France. Each event will have a keynote speaker, followed by a round table of three to four respondents who will contribute on this question from the perspectives of political science, international affairs, history, and/or science. Live streaming video events will be available on the You Tube channel of École polytechnique.

This event will take place in Sulzberger Parlor, on the Barnard campus, and be followed by a reception.

Keynote: The Anthropocenic Sublime: A Critique

Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, Researcher at CNRS – Centre Koyré

Although staggering, spectacular or grandiloquent, the Anthropocene concept is not a scientific discovery. It does not refer to a recent advance in our understanding of the functioning of the earth system. The Anthropocene is just a stratigraphic division period. Its strength is not conceptual, scientific or even heuristic: it is primarily aesthetic.

• Deborah Coen, Professor of History, Barnard College
• Frankie Pavia, PhD candidate, Oceanography, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
• Adam Sobel, Professor, Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Free and open to the public.