The Accident In Time

Author(s): Paul Virilio and Julie Rose

Source: Log, No. 7 (Winter/Spring 2006), pp. 119-125
Published by: Anyone Corporation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41765094
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Paul Virilio
TranslatedfromtheFrench The Accident
byJulieRose

In Time

International integration, globalization:thethirdmillen-

niumis confronted bythegeophysical limitsof theonly
habitableplanetin thesolarsystem.HUMANS bornof the
humus,in otherwords,of MOTHER EARTH,we are above
all EARTHLINGS,inhabitants of an ecosystem without
parallelin theMilkyWay.
How arewe goingto approachtheimpending incarcera-
tionbrought onbyProgress withoutlapsingintodespairover
thefiniteness thatcontemporary globalizationportends?
To be moreprecise:finiteness doesnotmeantheend of
theworld,theApocalypse. It meansthatan appleis onlyan
apple,a manis onlya man,and theEarthis onlyearth.
The thingis,withglobalization we arenow experiencing
thefiniteness of theworld,of a planetconfronted byitsulti-
mateexterior, thevoid of outerspace.Whencethesudden
foreclosure ofa worldthatis globallyfinished, confronted by
"TheAccident inTime"is
EXCERPTED
FROM ClTY
OFPANICBY its"extermination," thatis, bytheperfectrotundity of its
PaulVirilio,
publishedin2005
by terrestrial substance.
BergPublishers,whoholdthe
English
translation copyright. "Completionis a limit,"Aristotle cautionedin his second
axiom.In the21stcentury, humanityas a wholeis faced
accordingly with itsgroundedfiniteness and withtherelated
danger of also having to come to grips with itshuman finite-
ness:a kindof exclusionthatis notonlysocialand political
butalso physical, withtheimminent explosionof a third
bombin thewakeof theatomicbomband theinformation
bomb.I meanthegeneticbomb,a bombalreadypresenting
transgenic engineering as a symptom.
FORECLOSURE, EXCLUSION. You can'thaveone
withouttheotherin thisgeophysical incarceration contem-
porary with the acceleration of realityand not of
just History
now.Whencethislatestshore,theultimateskyline, notof
thereal-spaceperspective of thequattrocentro anymore,but
of thisVERTICALLITTORAL constituted by the separation
betweencosmicemptiness and geophysical fullness.
FULLNESS, FINITENESS of thehumanenvironment:
in orderto betterunderstand thissituationor,ifyouprefer,
this"inventory," we might,forinstance,lookat therecent
LivingPlanetReport providedbytheWorldWideFundFor
Naturein 2002.
119

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 According to theWWFstudy,our biological footprint, whichis
an estimateof theminimumproductivesurfacerequiredfor
a groupto satisfy itsneedsin termsof resourceconsumption
and wastedisposal,alreadyamplyexceedsEarth'scapacities
in certaincountries.To putit in slightly different terms,if
everyonein theworldlivedliketheaverageFrenchman, we
wouldneedmorethantwoplanets,and ifeveryone consumed
1.LeFigaro supplement,whattheaverageAmericanconsumes,we would needfive.1
,"Economie"
The
5,2002):4.
(December Architectural Butthatis
Review
757
(MarchI960):183-90. justthepurelyecologicalaspectoftheissue,
forthebiologicalfootprint in questionin thereportspeaksto
us solelyofthe"productive surface,"meaningspace,andnot
ofthespace-time involvedin theacceleration oftechnological
Progress thatreducestheextent,thefullness, oftheworldto
nothing. In other words, the eschatologicalaspectofourprob-
lemhas beenleftout.Whichexplainsthealreadyold-hatem-
phasison theillusionoftheconquestofspacebyastronautics.
Therewas actuallyno realconquestof spacein the20th
century. Therewas onlya conquestof "transittime"by
meansof theexcessivespeedof thoseenginesthatattained,
thenexceeded,theescapevelocity requiredto be freedof
Earth'sgravity, whichis 28,000kilometers perhour.As for
habitable space, this is limited to theself-contained celestial
body we call Earth and to pressurizedspacecapsulesand
sundryself-contained spacesuits wornbyastronauts on board
suchcapsules.
On board,butforhow long?The recentaccidentof
spaceshuttleColumbia, followinghoton theheelsof the
Challengeraccident,would seemto lendsupportto thosewho
havebeenhopingfortheend of mannedspaceflights and for
thealternative development of roboticprobes as a priority,
preciselyto palliatetheinsurmountable temporalproblems of
theexcessively long durations involved in remote missions.
In theend,beyondtheblueplanet,thereis onlythecon-
questofemptiness throughaccelerationof thesundryvectors
of astronautics. Sure,we can traverseouterspace,butwe
can'tstayanywhereon thesurfaceof thosesterilestarsthat
surroundus on all sides.... A femaleastronautat NASAput
it fairlyvividly:"How manylightyearsawayis thenext
waterhole?"It is truethatwhenit comesto amnioticfluid,
womenhavea certainedge.
But let'sgetbackto thedifferent signsof INCAR-
CERATION. For somelittletimealready,certain
astronomers havebeenjumpingup and downaboutthe
major natural hazardposedbyASTEROIDS. The lastto hit
us was backonJune30,1908,whena cometor asteroid-
-
nobodyknowswhich explodedoverCentralSiberiaat
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 Tunguska.It was sucha massiveexplosionthatit caused
extensivedamageovermorethan2,000 squarekilometers
2.CfJ.-P. (Paris: of tundra.2
LeFeuduCiel
Luminet,
LeCherche,
2000-
].LeMonde, 28,2002.
June RecentlynamedNEAR-EARTHASTEROIDS, or
4.Urbanisme issue
,special tothe CRUISERS,thesemenacingcelestialobjectsare beginning
devoted to
1998.
city,"
"private - -
note suchas
spawnvastdetection programs all American,
LINEAR, or LincolnNear EarthAsteroidResearchproject,
themostimpressive of themall, employing twoautomated
telescopes,equipped with electro-optical detectors,previously
used bythemilitaryfordetecting Sovietsatellites.^
Recon-
vertedat theend of theCold War,theseinstruments have
sincebeenaffected to thesearchforerrantasteroids.
However,as thesystemincorporates a largeblindspot
thatdoesnotallow it to observetheSouthernHemisphere,
riggingout thathalfof theworldhas becomea matterof
greaturgency, accordingto FrançoisColas,of theInstitutde
mécaniquecelesteof theParisObservatory.
Strangely, thissystemof cosmicdefense,whichjoins the
ANTI-MISSILE SHIELD of "StarWars",relaunchedin 2001
byPresidentGeorgeW.Bush,appearsas History'sultimate
rampart,afterthefortified walls thrownup aroundtowns,or
theGreatWallof China,to saynothingof theMaginotLine
or theBerlinWall.
Anotherclinicalsignof theGREATHEMMING IN is
theexponentialdevelopment of GATED COMMUNITIES
and thereturnto thewalledcity,notablyin theUnited
States,whereseveraltensof millionsofAmericanshave
beenlockingthemselves awayforthelast10 yearsin questof
theultimatecomfort, INTERNAL SECURITY.
Privatecities,protectedbytheirelectronicfences,sur-
veillancecameras,and guards,one of theseghettosis even
calledFORTRESSAMERICA.. . . Those on thesubcontinent,
suchas thefiveALPHAVILLESthatnow ringSão Paulo in
Brazil,don'tbearmentioning.4
Theseare all so manysymptoms of thepathological
regression of the City in which the cosmopolis, theopencity
of thepast,givesway to thisclaustropolis whereforeclosure is
intensifiedby exclusion of that the
stray, outsider, what we
might call a SOCIOCRUISER, who is threatening themetro-
politaninhabitant's peace of mind the same way the stray
NEAR-EARTHCRUISERis threatening theterrestrial envi-
ronment, to
onlyshortly require us to erect an EXO-
SPHERICALfenceto fendoffthedangersof thevoid.
Atthisjuncturewe mightpointto a strangecoincidence
betweentheadventof theCHAMBEROF WONDERS 400
yearsago and theemergenceof theCHAMBER OF
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 CATASTROPHES.The chamberofwonderscropsup in the
16thcenturyin a worldthatwasopening upthanksto mari-
5.Patricia LesChambres
Falguières, des timeconquest,5 whichbroughtwithit thediscoveryof
merveilles
(Paris:
Bavard,
2003). exoticism in all
6.Patrick LesCabinets
Mauriès, de itsforms,notablywiththecabinetofcurios
curiosités
(Paris:
Gallimard,
2002). of the17thcentury.6 Butthecomingopeningof theACCI-
7.Joseph "Karain:
Conrad, AMemory,"
inTales
ofUnrest
,inSelected
Short
Stories DENT MUSEUM is contemporary witha worldthatis closing
Wordsworth
(Ware: Classics, 50.
1997), in onitself to in
itself, the 21stcentury, witheco-
only occupy
in
logicalendotism, expectation of the first
stirrings of a
kindof eschatology thatdemocracywill one dayhaveto deal
withifitwantsto avoiddisappearing underthethreatof a
new tyranny, theTYRANNY OF REAL TIME, this"accident
in Time" belongingto an instantaneity thatis thefruitof a
technological Progressoutofpoliticalcontrol.
"Aninconceivable lifeof stress,ofpower,of endeavour,
ofunbelief- thestronglifeofwhitemen,whichrollson
irresistibleand hardon theedgeof outerdarkness," wrote
JosephConradon thesubjectof modernman.7
Atthethreshold of thethirdmillennium, it is notonly
whitesbutthewholeof humanitythatis campedon theedge
of outerdarkness,on therazors edgeof theemptiness of
outerspace,hopingagainsthopeforsomeultimatecoloniza-
tion,notovertheseas,now,butOUT OF THIS WORLD.
If thecityis themostimportant politicalformof
History, thentheworld-citythatis contemporary withthe
of
age planetaryglobalization does, indeed, have itsbackto
thewall. Andthatwall is now thewall of time- "thetime
barrier";thisrealand astronomical timethathas now out-
paced the time of calendars and the ephemeris.
This,as we haveseen,explainstheemergency returnof
the"walledcity"and of theBUNKERIZATION thatis
blighting citieseverywhere, bitbybit.It also explainsthe
antimissile shieldof theUnitedStatesand theanti-asteroid
beltagainstcruiserasteroidshurtlingtowardus from
deepspace.. .
If completion is a limit,thatlimitis to be fortified these
daysagainst all intrusion, and this,on the scale of a geo-
graphicalmetropolis locatedhereor there,wherever, as well
as on thescaleof theonlyknownhabitableplanetin the
solarsystem.
Wearethus,rightnow,ineluctably facedwiththesudden
revelationof a CRITICAL SPACEresulting fromtemporal
compression, the telluric contraction of thespace-timeof
theinteractive activities of Humanityin theage of a global-
izationthatis at onceeconomic,political,and military.
Whencethecrucialissueof thereversalof thenotionsof
INSIDE and OUTSIDE, whichis merelythetopologicalcon-
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 sequenceof thecrisisin dimensions: dimensionsat oncegeo-
metricand geographic.
Such consequencesare "catastrophic" in thesensemeant
bythelatelamentedRenéThom.Todaytheymarkthe
declinein theGEOPOLITICS of nationsto thebenefitof an
administrative METROPOLITICS thatrestricts theway
urbanspacesare populated.
Attheverystartof thewarsof theStateof Israel,one of
theKnessetdeputieswas drivento delivera prophecy:
"Israelis too smallforpeace!" He therebydefinedthefuture
of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts,butalso thereturnto the
endemicdiseaseofwarsbetweencitiesthatmarkedthedistant
epoqueof theCity-State,whichprecededtheNation-State.
So thereis no reasonto be surprisedat theimperialist
natureof this"mobilewarfare"thatwas to takeoverfrom
"siegewarfare".. . a siegewarfarethatwe havegonebackto
in theage ofglobalizationwiththereappearanceof the"pri-
vatecity"surroundedbyfencesand surveillancecameras.
The "greatmetropolitan retreat"of the20thand 21stcen-
turiesactuallyreproduces, buton a globalscale,whatusedto
happenonceupona timeon a local scalewiththepopulation
movements of theagrarianand artisanalage.
AftertheIndustrialRevolutionand,moreparticularly,
therevolutionin transport and transmission, thistendency
has notonlyoverwhelmed townsand cities,withtheirnebu-
lous peripheries, but,equally,nationsand continents, now
convertedinto"fortresses" (Europe). Whence thewide-
spread BLIZTKRIEG that has,littlebylittle,replaced
mobilewarfareand large-scaleterritorial invasion,with,as
solehorizon,thepolarinertiaof a completionor,morepre-
cisely,of a FINITENESS thatis now eschatological and not
8.Paul
Virilio, Inertia:
Polar Theory, merelyecological.8
Culture j trans.
& Society Camiller
Patrick as it now presentsitselfto us, seemsto me
(London: 1999).
Publications,
Sage "Adventure,
9.Pierre
MacOrlan, à la
"LaBouteille vastly different from adventureas we onceknewit,which
mer"inL'Avenir (Paris:
fantastique had moreto do withgeography thanwithhumanity. ...
194-2).
Denoel,
This extraordinary new formof adventureis now driving
Europe and the World. Thegeographic jigsawpuzzle hasbeen
and
pulledapart quickly slipsintonew imagesthatwillreplace
thealreadyshattered imagesofoldworlds ," wrotePierreMac
Orlanin 1950.9
Wellbeforetheemergenceof fractalgeometry, thepoet
of the"socialgothic"divinedthefracture thatwas aboutto
happenin a worldapparently "whole,"butthatwould soon
be gaspingin labor,producingthecontractions we are all
familiarwith.
Attherelative speedof thetransport and movementof
m

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 bodiesand goods:territorial conquestof theexpanseof the
realspaceofgeophysics.
Attheabsolute speedof thetransmission of themessages
of interactivity: conquest of thelack of expanseof the
instantaneity of realtime .
Whencethesuddenpathologicalclampingshutof a once
multipolar worldthathas now decidedto go unipolar with
thereversalof thenotionsof insideand outside .
As I triedto explain10 yearsago or more:"For themili-
taryplannersof theUnitedStates,theGLOBAL meansthe
insideof a finiteworldand theLOCAL meanstheoutside , the
outskirts or periphery.Andso, fortheUS Army,thepipsare
no longerinsidetheappleanymorethanthesegments are
insidetheorange;theskinhas turnedinsideout sinceorbital
ASTROSTRATEGYturnsGEOSTRATEGYinsideoutlikea
glove!The world'sexterioris no longerthesurfaceof the
Earth.It is everything thatis insitu, preciselylocalizedhere
10.CfPaul The
Virilio, Bomb
, or there."10
Information
Chris
trans. Turner(London:
Verso, So thereyouhaveit,theverylatestglobalitarian muta-
2000).
tion:a mutationthatextroverts locality,everylocality!This
timetheexpatriation is global,affecting thefundamentally
"geopolitical"identity of nations as well as of human
societiesas a whole.
"Allcountriesare temptedto letmultilateral diplomacy
slidewhenit comestowhatis happeningin theirown back-
yards.The problemis thatthebackyardof theAmerican
superpower is thesamesize as theworld."This observation
on thepartof theAssistant Secretary-General of theUnited
Nationsis indicativeof thetopologicalreversalof erstwhile
imperialistgeopolitics.
The metageophysical contractionof thespace-timeof
thefiniteworldthushas as an ultimateconsequence- with
theirremediable lossof expanse- theFORECLOSURE of
thedominantpower'sfieldof action.
Andso, fromnow on withoutdistanceand without
delay,a stateofemergency is becoming
widespread. This is one of
thelittleunderstoodaspectsof theaccidentintegralto the
politicaleconomy.Whencetherevealinglineof a studentin
Durham,NorthCarolina:"Wecan'twaitto be attacked
beforewe strikeback.Those daysare overand it'stimethe
planetrealized."
This peculiarlypanic-riddled statement is characteristic
of theoffensiveaspectof thetemporalcompression of the
worldin theage ofglobalization, and thusof thefatalset-
tingup of thepreventive waras a meansof controlon the
part of thelastempire.
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 Wecan'twaitanylonger , sincethelackofwaitingtimestrips
us of thesovereignty thatwas conferred uponus, in thepast,
by the of
immensity continents. In otherwords,thewhole
worldhasbecome toosmallforpeace,thiscivilpeacebetween
nationsand theirrespective populationsnow threatenedbya
state - thatother in
11.Giorgio d'exception neverending ofemergency
Etat
Agamben, figure the
Editions
(Paris: duSeuil,
2003)- "stateof siege"thatis, thistime,planetary.11

PaulVirilio
isanarchitect
and
URBANPLANNER ANDFORMER
OFTHEECOLE
DIRECTOR SPECIALE
d'Architecture
inParis.
Hehas
WRITTENWIDELYONFILM,ARCHI-
TECTURE,
WAR, ANDTECHNOLOGY.
HisbooksincludeArt&Fear,
GroundZero,ALandscape of
Events
,andCrepuscularDawn.
125

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