Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (SB-The French List)

JEAN BAUDRILLARD WHY HASN'T EVERYTHING ALREADY DISAPPEARED 7

T RAN SLATED BY CHRIS TURNER

WITH IM ACES BY ALAIN WlllA UME

}

\ CO N Te N TS

Fo reword

\Vhy Hasn't Everything Already D is:Jppe m:d? Sugull Boo k.. 2009 J('~n

Ib udrillard. i>oMrq" l1 /(J.N "·~ · '" I JI"'1 U.1. Cakulta

9

FOREWORD

He that hath no t, from him shall be taken even that whi ch he hath (? latthew 25: 29).1

'W' hy is there nothing rath er than someth ing?' T hi s is Lcibni z's '1ucs tiot1 , exactly reversed . It is also a radical way of taking o ne's !c:wc of meta physics. \.

TbrJoms is

1101 n Oll' Oil

hring, hul Oil

tI)t

IIolbi/~p".

I 3

J£AN BAUDRILLARD

WHY HA SN 'T EVE RY TH IN G A LREA DY DISAPPEARED?

;\ I:lccdonio Fe rt1:lndt,z. th e l\rgen tini:Jn wnter ;Jnd frien d of

B ()rgt:~,

N ihili sm ?

10,

nihili sm is precisely th e fo r-

h:ld alre;Jch' r:lken the ex-

getting of th e no thing. It is th e system th:tt is ni -

len gth ~ : ; E \'e r ~'­

hi listic through its powe r to cons ign eve ryt hing

j U~1 011

to ind iffe rence. 'f he sys tcm is '!ruly negn io ni st',

th e I'pthing, btu no t entirely, On th (' j\uthing.

to usc 13:t udrilbrd 's ex press ion. ~ in cc it is a denial

pl oration of tht, nUlhing [() grc:u

th ing o n-a nd incl uding- th e Nothi ng,

there

i~

more: some (If it s illlerstices. which are

of th e no thing. a denial of :111 illusion. There re-

IlUT11 I.: WlI S.'! J e:1I1 Ihud ril b rd pushes its limit s

main s th e ch:tll cnge o f radi cal tllOught whic h

eve n furthl..'r :l nd sa tLlr~II CS th e iT1l crstict.:s. It's a

gambl es on th e world being illu :-> iun , which hr·

ques tion of bei ng logical. \\ c imaf,rlnl.:d th:lt Good

pOlhcsizes

was the product of dimin:ll ing b ·il. tht, l: tert1:l1

th an so mething :lnd which 'huill s clown th e no-

the product of dimin:lling the Tempor:!1 or the

thing thai run s benea th the appare nl contin ui ty

All the produc t of dimin:ll ing the N othing, AI -

of Il1 c:t ning'.

W:lys thi s IOtalit:l rian temptatio n to uni fy. to reduce dU :ll ity. [() dil11in:lte I: vil. to exterminate the

th~1

Thi s isn't contrary of

:I

:I

Ih en: is

perh~p s

nothing rathe r

cOlllr:t rr mc tilph ysics, but Ihl:

mct:lph}'sics.

nothing. W'e ha\'e rid our ~ekes of the :tl11biguit y of I hI.: world. \'\ e ha\"e

(0

l e~rt1 to d~ l1Cc

with , hc nothing;

thi s i ~ Ihe g rc:t l ga me and the g r:tl1d style: 'the j\othing is

~I ~

essc llli:d to life:t s :u c air and wind

to the !light of th e do\'c:: 1 a refe rence to t-.: alll 's 'light dm'C" which im agi nes it wou ld fh beller if i, cou ld ove rcome :til res ist:tflc c.

,

5

\X 'hen I spe:lk of timl:. it is n01 YCt \,\'hen i spe:lk of

:l

pbce, it has d isa ppc:m:d

\'\ ·hen i spe:lk o f a man. il!..'·s already (Il::ld \'\ ·hcn I spc:lk o f timc. it :ltrc:ldy is no Illtlrl:4

!.I ·.T l ':-; Sp l.., .....

th en . of Ih e world from which

human beings ha\T di sappea red . It 's a llUl:stioll uf di sappC:Ir.IIlCl:. n01 exha us4

nnn, ex tinctitln or cx termination . Thc cx h:lllsr.io n of reso urces, th(' cx tinc tion uf spl:cics -thcse are physi cal processes or narur:ll phe no mena .

9

JfAN 8AUDRIlLARD

WHY HA SN 'T EVERYTHI N G ALREADY DISAPPEARED ?

' \!ld th :lt 's the whole difference. T he human

li vel y a l ienated. ~ T hi s is th e

1110ll1C lll

wh cn

species is dou btless the only o ne to have Invcntcd

huma n bei ngs, while se tt ing abou t aO:llysi ng :lOci

:l specific mode of di s:lppea rllnce that h:l s noth .

tra nsform ing the wo rl d, rake th ei r !ca\'e of it,

ing

whi le at the sam e time le nding it forcc of rca li ty.

10

do with Na ture's bw. Perh aps cven an

:lr!

of di sa ppear:tnce.

\'('e ma y say, th cn, [hal lh c rca l wurld begi ns. parad OX Icall y,

l.ET 'S BEG I1\: \'\ tTIl

th e d is:1 ppeara ncc of th e re:ll.

10

d isappea r

:1.1

the ve ry samc tin1c :lS

it begins to ex ist.

We have talked eno ugh abotH the murd er of re-

By th eir c.:xce pt:ion:d f:lcuhr fur knuwl edge,

aliry in the age of thc media. vi rru:11 re:11iry :md

hu man beings, while giving meaning. valuc :I nd

network s, withou t enelui ring

rea hty

whcn the rea l began

10

10

:111\', ;:,IIre:lr deg ... ree

ex ist. I f we look closely.

\\'e sec that the rea l world begi ns , in th e modern c

10

th e wo rl d , :1 t the S:\l11e ti me begi n

:I

process of di ssolutio n ('to :In:il}'se' me:l ns liter:t.ll )' 'to di ssolve').

:lge. with th e deci sion to tr:t nsform the wo rld ,

But doubtless we have to go b:lck cven fur-

do so by mea ns of science, an:ll\'tical , knowledge and the impleme ntatio n of technol -

ther- as far as concept's :l nd bngu:lgc, By rep resenti ng thi ngs to o ursel ves, by nami ng them :l nd

ogY- lh:lt is to say Ih:ll it begi ns, in Hannah

co nccprual izing th em, hU1l1:l1l beings call them

Aren dt's word s, wi th the inve ntion of an

into ex istence and at th e sa me time h:-' slen th eir

Archil11cd ean poi nt outsi de th e world (o n rh e

doom, subtly det:lch thcm fro m their brUl e rcaliry"

basis of the invention of the telescope by G:llilen

ror eX:1111ple, the cbss struggle ex ists fro m th e

and the di scovery of modern mmhcma[ical ca l-

mo ment

culatio n) by which th e n:u-ur:11 \\"o rld is d efin i-

its g reates t in te nsity o nly before being T1:ll11ed.

:1Ild

10

10

~ I arx

names il. But it no doubt ex ists in

11

WH Y H AS N 'T EVERYTHI NG A LREA DY DISAPPEARED?

thank s ro the deployment of a limi tless tec hn ol· ogy. both menta l and material, human bei ngs are 'j

capablc of fulfilling all their pOlcntiali ties :md , as a consequence, di sappear, givi ng way

to

an :u ti·

ficial wo rld that expels them fro m it. to an integral perfo rman ce that is, in a sense, the highest stage o f ma teriali sm. (l\ larx: the idealist smge of inter·

.,

preratio n, and the irresistible tr:msformatio n that leads to a world withou t tis.) That wo rld is per· fec tly o bjective since there is no one left to see it. Havi ng become purely ope ratio nal. it no lo nger

.

'.

ha s need o f our representatio n. Indeed, th ere no lo nge r is any possible representa tion of iT. Fo r, if what is proper to hum an beings is not to

rea lize all th eir possi bili ties, it is of th e essence

of the technica l o bjec t 10 exhau st its poss ibilities and eve n to go quite so me way beyon d th em, stakjng out in that way the definitive d emarcation line between technica l objects and human beings, ro the po int of deploying an in fin ite l

ope ra tio nal potential agai nst human bei ngs

IS

HAN 8AUORIllARO

\ltl'rW,trth , thing

t,

It

mneh d('cJmcs. The 1110111COI ,I

tUllled, the moment reprc~(,nlauon Jnd

concept' tah' hold of 1)C~n,

10

It, t,

the !l10Il1COI when

lo!'c II' l:ncrg~'-wllh lht' risk that

II

11

wIll

bcco!l1e a truth or impll'l: Itself a~ ideology. \X 'I: I1U\ ',1\

the "a me of Ihe: l ' nconsciou:- and

II'

diS.

emcry b~ Frcud. 111:- whe: n a Ihing i!' beginning 10 dl:o.,tppclr thai dll' concl:pl appea r:-;,

T he 0"1.

"';\\:0.

I k gd, tllCS out at dusk.

T ,lhe: gloh,lli/.llIon: If tl1l:rc i!'i so much t.tlk

of

II.'"

01,\ IOU'

t:lct,

I' perh,lp' bccau,e

It

.1'

Indi'plHablc realiry,

lh,ll

I' ;llread~' no longer at II"

hl:lghl ,till! wc ;I re alfl'ad~ contending with "O!l1C.

thll1g d'e. Tlm'lppc'lrancc. Thu .... the Illodern world forc

cl\ch the product of

:\11

Internal logic. of a built

in ob"oil:',ccncc, of the hum:1Il mce's fulfilment of

II'

mo'" g r;lndio, c projcct. the P romcthc:\11

prolect of nla!'tcnng the.: uni versc, of accJuiring c:-.hauslln:: htlowlcdge. \,\ 'c:

~cc,

which pn.'clpltalcI.: fore it is ~ee n. Th is is

lIbCr.l o f th e di d nc,

a T1lo!'l:t1 d:lI1gcr for the ' rc:l1' wo rld, but also for

s illl ~

By COll1 r:tSI, th e photogr:lphic :lCI is. in

:1

the il11:tge. since. when it merges with the real and

senst:, 'achei ropui elic'. As aut o m:ltic ligh t. writi ng

si mpl y im lll erses it self in th e real :md re· cyck s

Ih:lt neither p:lsses through th e rea l nor Ihe ide:t

ii, th erc no longe r is :l ny il1la~e-:11 l e:t~ t

uf the re:ll. pholOgf:tphy 1ll:1Y ht: ~:l i d , by thi ~ :tu·

/1f)l

as

cxct:p tion,:ls illu sion, :ls p:mtlld \\·orld . In th t: \·i-

lut11:1t:ici t); 10 be the prutut)ve of

~ 1I :l 1

the wo rld, wi th no interference (mm human h:lIld.

!low in which wt: :Ire cu rrentl y s ubnlt:r~ed,

Ihere i" n'l eVl:n th e tim L' 10 become an im:lge.

The world produci ng itself

:IS

:1

lit cr:llness of

r:ldiC:11 illusion,

:I ~

I d ream of an illl:lgt: that wou ld be th e iail -

purt: tr.1ce, \\;thOlH :tlly simubtioll, without hum:tn

of thl: world's singubrit y. :is

il1l er\'c mion :l nd, :lbo\'e all. no t :ts truth, for, if

drl::ll1lt of b\ the Iconoclasts in th e famous

there is onc ~ lIpJ'enH': pnxluct of the hUI1l:lIll11ind ,

Bynntinc controversy. T hey contended th:l! o nly

th:t! product is truth :tnc! objccti\T rC:llity.

flrl' tllIlOlJltlliqllf

50

51

WHY HASN'T EVERyTHING AlREADY DISAPP[ARED?

physical- !