On Infinite Resignation and Capitalist Realism Suppose that life pours itself into a glass for you and invites your consideration. Do you optimistically see this glass half-full, or do you pessimistically see it half-empty? Perhaps neither quantification sufficiently expresses the nature of these two outlooks. An alternative framing of this time-worn metaphor is wittily supplied to us by philosopher Eugene Thacker in his recent book Infinite Resignation. Near the start of the text, Thacker cites that, for him, pessimism is best captured by the joke “I see the glass half-full, but of poison.” What then if indeed such a glass is filled with poison? What action qualifies the nature of the two outlooks? Is it the pessimism of the world-weary that is exhibited if this noxious toxin is drunk? Or would this instead be a display of optimism, of a well-wishing ‘alas, but maybe the outcome won’t be as bad as it seems!’ Or perhaps it is thus—a comedic nihilism, a resignation, an acceptance that this is for the worse and yet there can be no alternative. There can be no, no… what? It is here that we strike upon what is most necessary… [my full essay is linked here]
