Science friction. Vincent Perriot writes science fiction comics; Philippe Bihouix is an engineer specializing in low-tech. They team up to deliver Resources: a challenge for humanityan abundant story of our relationship with resources and energies. A space-time journey, from the Middle Ages to our potential futures.
It all starts with a dream. That of the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, who wants to go and live in a space station orbiting the planet. Well installed in their ship, Philippe Bihouix and Vincent Perriot set off to discover the myths of abundance on which this crazy ambition is based. They go to meet other men who, long before the billionaire, dreamed of extraordinary technologies to conquer space and free themselves from limits.
Navigating between science fiction and popular science, the authors demonstrate step by step the illusory nature and infeasibility of building colonies in space. They trace the history of our relationship with raw materials, which has shaped the technologies we use every day. This dense story, lightened by a touch of humor and self-deprecation, allows readers to understand the different currents of thought that shape our societal choices.
Beyond a critical analysis of our industrial societies, the two travelers explore utopias and dystopias. The civilization of the future could, for example, be expert in dismantling all existing buildings, to reuse the materials rather than extracting new ones.
Another avenue explored: pooling infrastructures to be more sober without suffering. Pooling the installations of mobile telephone operators, for example, would make it possible to halve French electricity consumption. Today, everyone has their own 4 and 5G antenna network.
Aboard vehicles, each one more astonishing than the last – flying car, dinosaurs or flying insects – the narrators enthusiastically prove that the path to a sustainable lifestyle is not one of renunciations.
Resources, a challenge for humanity, Philippe Bihouix, Vincent Perriot, November 2024, Casterman, €28, 175p.
