What with global warming, the war on terror, extreme political polarization, an unstoppable demographic explosion and migration, anarchy and chaos are becoming parts of our world system in hitherto unprecedented ways. What to call the planetary state of emergency we are now entering--a "New World Disorder," perhaps, or "Entropic Empire"? In his latest book, the Dutch philosopher, art historian, writer and activist Lieven De Cauter suggests that an entropic empire is created by opposing forces or philosophical poles: the "state of exception" (tyranny) and the "state of nature" (anarchy). Entropic Empire: Considerations on the Planetary State of Emergency is part post-historical sci-fi scenario and part philosophical consideration on the eternal return of prehistory (the "state of nature"). For De Cauter, the simple but troubling question is: are we falling out of history?
