Breaking Boundaries: Physics in an Age of Apocalypse

Women and other minoritized groups continue to face barriers in physics due to the enduring legacy of patriarchy and colonialism. Breaking these oppressive societal boundaries is essential, both for physics and for minoritized groups. The Earth system also has boundaries, dictated by natural cycles, tolerances and limits, that demarcate a livable planet from one where the existential risk to humankind and the biosphere is much too high. Of the nine planetary boundaries so far identified, seven have been violated to date; we are therefore hurtling toward extremely risky future Earth states. Two related questions arise: first, what might it mean to do physics and be physicists in an age of apocalypse? Second, could the two boundary problems described above be related? That is, could breaking oppressive societal boundaries be a necessary condition for the possibility that humankind might, in the future, return to and stay within Earth system boundaries? This talk engages with these questions and presents a speculative manifesto.