Our natural vulnerability becomes apparent when the vast infrastructure we rely on to compensate for it falters. The current season is marked by a slump caused by one of our most persistent nightmares: the lack of electricity, which powers the technical tools essential for overcoming our inherent weaknesses. These are tough times, and the precariousness that history—punctuated by technical inventions that propelled us to the top of the food chain—had once mitigated is now laid bare by power outages and other forms of electrical deprivation.
Plato once used the myth of Prometheus to explain the utility of technology for humanity. Forgotten during the distribution of survival gifts—like wings for birds, fangs and claws for felines, speed for cheetahs, or fur for bears—humanity was left destitute and doomed. To prevent this predicted extinction, Prometheus stole fire and technical know-how from the gods. Thanks to this precious gift, humans acquired unprecedented power that allowed them to survive. However, today, when we have placed so much weight on electricity, its absence brings almost all our domestic and professional activities to a frustrating halt.
In his novel Ravage, René Barjavel imagined a society in the year 2052 that had made all sectors dependent on electricity. Suddenly, it vanishes, dragging down the entire civilization, which finds itself completely stripped: production is neutralized by the stopping of machines, the paralysis of transport interrupts the movement of people, goods, and food, water stops flowing, disease takes hold, and humanity sinks into an unprecedented health crisis. This reveals a dependency on electrical energy that we already feel when its absence, during the distressing hours of load shedding, immobilizes us.
One could say we are getting a foretaste of this apocalyptic setting from Barjavel’s book, as our days are already filled with exasperating moments. For while the fire of technology has emancipated us from natural constraints, particularly through the exploitation of electricity, it has also cast us into a dependency that is revealed in the darkness of the absence of electric light.
Captured & Published at: 2026-10-19 05:38:53 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/10/le-feu-derobe.html