Rethinking Capitalism (ReCap) Webinar Series

Capitalism is in a human, political, social, and environmental crisis. The Rethinking Capitalism (ReCap) Webinar Series is an opportunity to reflect on the failures of our cultural and production model. The objective of these talks is to foster awareness, cooperation, and activism among academics and guide policymakers in implementing corrective policies. The ReCap Webinar Series is jointly organized by RCEA-Europe ETS and CefES-DEMS, under the auspices of the JRC (European Commission). Participation in the webinar series is free through zoom. Information on the webinar series can be found at: https://www.rcea.world/events/forthco...

Today's webinar is entitled "Doomed to Extinction? Reflections on Sunset of Humanity and the New Dawn? ". Our speaker is Prof Noam Chomsky from University of Arizona.

During and following World War One, Sigmund Freud wrote about the opposition between the life drive (Eros) and the self-destructive death instinct (Thanatos). Within this context, the very same survival of humanity so far is proof that the life drive is stronger than the death drive.
Still, humanity has entered a new era of high extinction risk: the sixth mass extinction is ongoing, and climate change-related disasters are becoming more visible: tipping points, extreme weather, spreading of new diseases; and on top of this, a renovated risk of nuclear war.
Will our life drive be enough this time as well, or is this time different and, therefore, humanity needs to achieve a higher awareness level to survive? And if this is the case, what would be the path toward this higher awareness?