Feasibility and control of nature history: Examining a fantasy

The feasibility and control of nature by mankind should make it possible to deliberately manipulate nature and counteract climate change using highly sophisticated technological means. This integration of nature into the sphere of human action turns it into an immense artefact that humans can heat up and cool down at will. We propose to challenge this environmentalist technocracy by simply rejecting this futurological idea. We then countered this position with the idea that man is mistaken in thinking that nature is totally controllable and predictable, because he is unaware that one of the main lessons of global warming is precisely the unavailability of nature’s predictability. It is almost impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when the human project to manipulate the Earth system will turn into a nightmare. It is, moreover, the clear awareness of this danger and of the illusion of man’s superpower that fuels all the measures taken to respond to the climate emergency and avoid destroying nature and life. To achieve this result, we used a mixed-method approach combining both observation and qualitative methods.