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Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the notion of (cultural) explosion as developed in the works of an influential theoretician of semiotics, Juri Lotman, and explores the possibilities of applying his ideas in interpreting global ecological disasters that humankind faces in the 21st century.

Paper long abstract:

In his seminal book Culture and explosion (in English, 2009), semiotician Juri Lotman argues that there are two principal forms of cultural dynamics: explosion and development. Their intermingling is the basis for all cultural processes. In the presentation, I will focus on Lotman's model of 'cultural explosion' and its possible applications in the situation of global environmental crisis.

In Lotman's argumentation, uninterrupted development is characterised by culturally acknowledged predictability. The situation of explosion (be it cultural, societal, or environmental) is its opposite, a fully unpredictable abrupt change. Whereas stable development has no specific characteristics (cf 'norm'), the moment of explosion reveals an unlimited amount of characteristics, and it is impossible to predict which of those would actualise as the moment of explosion passes. Paradoxically, when the moment of explosion has already passed, and we look back at it as a historical event, the results of the explosion seem to have been inevitable.

However, as Lotman points out, from a semiotic perspective, culture is a multi-layered system where nothing is irreversibly lost. Some cultural information may become obsolete as a result of some abrupt changes, but thanks to the parallel existence of the processes of development and explosion in different layers of culture (such as local, regional, or global), the stability of cultural dynamics is ensured. In the presentation, I will ask whether Lotman's ideas would be applicable also in anticipating and interpreting global ecological disasters.