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The idea that today we live in a dangerous world destined for catastrophe often appears in the media, works of fiction, art and even science. So-called collapsology has become a scientific discipline that brings together thinkers from many fields: environmental physics, history, anthropology, heritage studies, sociology, economics… Many are convinced that our world is unsustainable and destined to disappear. Some even dare to claim, with undisguised enthusiasm, that in fact the disappearance of our species could be good news for the rest of the living beings that populate the planet. Many apocalyptic tales share an idyllic vision of the past. There was once a Rousseauian paradise in which humans lived happily, respecting the environment and taking care of their relationships. A lost paradise to which we should urgently return, on pain of becoming extinct and perhaps dragging the entire globe with us to destruction.
Some voices dare to point out that we are in fact living in the happiest time in history. Never has there been greater equality among people, greater wealth and less violence. With all the injustices that obviously exist, the world has never known a time in which despotism and injustice have been so publicly questioned. These voices tell us that attitudes towards the environment have never been more respectful and that awareness of the need to protect our planet is greater than ever. However, the echo of these optimistic comments is limited. The vision of impending catastrophe is much more appealing, at both the societal and individual levels.
David Levine and Matthew Bowker examine those fantasies that depict a dangerous world dominated by destruction and hatred and that force individuals to survival as their primary task. They analyze these dystopian narratives in detail to search for hidden meanings. This task is risky because the collectives that share fantasies of destruction are not on the couch building a relationship with their therapist and provide