Along came a spider … and capitalism killed it. Issue 2 (July 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tyner, James A; Rice, Stian
• Is Part Of: Human geography. Volume 16:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2023-07
• Subjects: Biocapitalism -- necrocapitalism -- posthumanism -- post-Anthropocene -- violence -- sixth extinction -- fourth industrial revolution; biocapitalismo -- necrocapitalismo -- poshumanismo -- posantropoceno -- violencia -- Sexta Extinción -- Cuarta Revolución Industrial; Human geography -- Periodicals; 304.205
• DOI: 10.1177/19427786221140843
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1942-7786

Abstract

In 2022, engineers at Rice University revealed a new procedure to reanimate the corpse of a spider. Hailed as a biotechnological achievement, the experimental procedures designed to convert death into useful, productive labor portend a deepening of necrocapitalism and the violence of science. In this commentary, we call attention to three overlapping dimensions epitomized by scientifically reanimated spiders: (a) the fetishization of violence, (b) the subsumption of life and death to circuits of capital, and (c) the contradictions inherent in necrocapitalism. We view the necrobotic spider as an omen, one that calls us to refigure our understanding of violence in a post-humanist and post-anthropocentric way.