Anthropologist, writer and deep-time thinker Vincent Ialenti (author of Deep Time Reckoning) joined our Long Now Boston conversation event on April 5, 02021, from Vancouver, British Columbia, and led us on a journey deep into the Earth under Finland, where the world’s first nuclear waste repository is now in operation.
Anthropologist, writer and deep-time thinker Vincent Ialenti (author of Deep Time Reckoning) joined our Long Now Boston conversation event on April 5, 02021, from Vancouver, British Columbia, and led us on a journey deep into the Earth under Finland, where the world’s first nuclear waste repository is now in operation. The lessons he learned there (as an anthropologist studying the “Safety Case” process for the site) are highly relevant to any efforts to project and to prepare for the long term.
Bina Venkataraman
Bina Venkataraman is and Editor with the Boston Globe, and is the author of The Optimist’s Telescope, named a best book of the year in 2019.
Vincent Ialenti
Vincent Ialenti is currently a Research Associate at Cal Poly Humboldt's Department of Environmental Studies, formerly an Assistant Research Professor at George Washington University, and a MacArthur Postdoctoral Fellow at University of British Columbia
Speakers
Event Summary
Vincent Ialenti is an anthropologist, writer and deep-time thinker, and author of Deep Time Reckoning. He joined our Long Now Boston conversation event on April 5, 02021, from Vancouver, British Columbia, but for his book he spent years researching the efforts in Finalnd to identify, design and implement the world's first nuclear waste repository. That site is now in operation. The lessons he learned as an anthropologist studying the “Safety Case” process for the site, are highly relevant to any efforts to project and to prepare for the long term. Vincent concludes that a multi-disciplinary and multi-temporal process, which he calls “Deep Time Reckoning” is essential to properly address the impending environmental cascades of the Anthropocene and the growing cultural attitudes he names as the “deflation of expertise.” Vincent’s compelling presentation was followed by an extended panel conversation with special guests, Bina Venkataraman and Cristina Parreno Alonso, both former Long Now Boston speakers.
For the full conversation please check out the event video.