report

Pocket 8: Control systems

Did we miscalculate?

Avons-nous mal calculé ?

At the Observatory, human computers share their stories.

“dans un avenir lointain, il y a bien un habitat sur la Lune, mais c’est une prison” (Annick Bureaud)

Amélie Bouvier, Pickering’s Harem #13, (2018) Part of a set of 45 drawings,

Indian ink on paper, white aluminium frame, 32.5 × 24 cm. © Amélie Bouvier & Harlan Levey Projects.

The crypto-astrologer presents herself as

“a ‘human computer’ that looks at the input – the movements of celestial bodies – and produces the output – a speculative prediction of future market performance.” (Inte Gloerich [[annnotation: Inte Gloerich, Reimagining the Truth Machine Blockchain Imaginaries between the Rational and the More-than-Rational, (2025), PhD dissertation, Utrecht: Utrecht University.]])

Louise Charlier (Roscosmic Spatial Agency) Louise Charlier, Rocosmic Speculative Space Agency (2022 - ongoing). , etching from The Book of Miracles 1957 to the present day, (2022). Copyright and courtesy of the artist.

Spikes in the price of gold and petrol, prime the demand for lunar extraction.

Can we stop making the same mistakes, over and over again?

Reading material

Benoit Cassel, 7 Prissoniers de Mathieu Gabella, 2009.

Louise Charlier, Rocosmic Speculative Space Agency (2022 - ongoing)/

Amelie Bouvier, Pickering’s Harem, (2017 - 2018).

Inte Gloerich, Reimagining the Truth Machine Blockchain Imaginaries between the Rational and the More-than-Rational, (2025), PhD dissertation, Utrecht: Utrecht University.