Dr Kieran Tranter
It is not widely known that one of Carl Schmitt’s first pieces of published writing was a satirical piece of speculative fiction – Die Buribunken (The Buribunks). In it he writes about the beings that humans will become -the Buirbunkens – beings who compulsory contribute daily diaries to a global archive. In the contemporary infoverse of social media, audit culture and the IoT, such envisioning seems prophetic. For a jurist more infamously known for theorising the exception, the friend/enemy distinction and his compliance, if not cooperation, with the Nazi regime in the 1930s, his biting critique of an information culture out of control is particularly striking.
Until now the Die Buribunken has not been fully translated into English. With assistance from a small grant from the Arts, Education and Law group at Griffith University, we have had it translated.
To build international awareness about the piece and to begin reflecting on what the Die Buribunken might
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