SIGNIFICANTUS
LOLA PERRIN, PRIYA PARROTTA & OTHERS



quotes that
inspired the project



Reproduced here by kind permission of the authors


"WE ARE ON THE CUSP OF A NEW PHILOSOPHICAL ERA REVERSING 500 YEARS OF SCIENCE TELLING US HOW INSIGNIFICANT WE ARE.” (MARK MASLIN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON)



“As more and more people across global society piece together the internal and external layers of this alarming big picture; this collective, compulsive human violation of our planetary life-support system becomes one of the deepest and most pervasive sources of anxiety in our time. Society has created taboos against the public expression of such emotion and anguish, so we struggle to realise that so many of us feel the same. We are held fast, sleepwalking through the shopping malls, distracted, paralysed and overloaded in a continuous barrage of information.
Over recent decades such collective fear and disempowerment have transformed the way we think about the future; from that exciting 1960s world of excitement, progress and anticipation - to a dark and uncertain world of fear.
But if we only talk in terms of fear, chaos, collapse and devastation, we aren’t going to equip, empower and enable people - if we are unable to imagine a positive future, we won't create it.” (Paul Allen, Centre for Alternative Technology)


"We are the crew of a large-ish spaceship for 9 billion. If we were on a smaller spacecraft it would be unthinkable to interfere with the systems that provide us with air, water, food and climate . We are playing with fire, a reckless mode of behaviour we are likely to come to regret unless we get a grip on the situation."
(Chris Rapley, University College London)



Significant: sufficiently great or important
to be worthy of attention (Oxford Dictionaries)
Cantus: chant (Latin)