2027: Waking the AKU-- A Cosmic Hyperobject View of the Ancient Giant Palm Forest on Rapa Nui

Can a repeating climate event be termed as a cosmic hyperobject? Even if it is dynamically changing within hundreds of thousands of years? At the center of this paper is the science: observable data, 15,000 years of climate change on Rapa Nui. Reaching into the past however we begin with a much broader mathematical view from the eyes of Milankovitch theories of the cosmos that stretches a million years or more. Narrowing down from the cosmos to the atmosphere and into the biosphere  landing onto a tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean we find the hyperobject in focus, a grandiose forest covering the landscape with what was the la...  more

Can a repeating climate event be termed as a cosmic hyperobject? Even if it is dynamically changing within hundreds of thousands of years? At the center of this paper is the science: observable data, 15,000 years of climate change on Rapa Nui. Reaching into the past however we begin with a much broader mathematical view from the eyes of Milankovitch theories of the cosmos that stretches a million years or more. Narrowing down from the cosmos to the atmosphere and into the biosphere  landing onto a tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean we find the hyperobject in focus, a grandiose forest covering the landscape with what was the largest living and breathing giant palms ever known on earth. The water that is contained within the roots, stems and leaves of 16 million giant palms, is an enormous watery energy that was the life breath of this ancient island. As all hyperobjects are expected to be interwoven, this paper will move through time, following the storyline of adaptation and a changing culture view.  Stepping out into the future it is now Twenty-Twenty-Seven, the projected return of a long term climate event that changed the island and these trees forever. To the Rapa Nui people, this AKU, an invisible interactive entity is perhaps what we call today the Hyperobject. Can an awakening of an Aku of the past still contain the resilience needed to sustain through the returning climate event of 2027?