A Unique Time in
History
For the first time in 500 years, we could actually change
the capitalist system. I mean replace it, not just revise it. I mean get rid of
capitalism and create something new. And it is all happening because of the
digital revolution. Virtually everyone on the cutting edge of social change has
dreamt of this time. This is our moment to fix the systemic injustices,
exploitations, violence, and hierarchy that plague society. Whether your focus
is racial injustice, labor equity, sexual identity, poverty, climate change,
feminism, sustainable land use, or indigenous culture, the dream has been to
change the system. Well, “the system” is called capitalism, and we stand on the
threshold of a dramatic, historic transformation. The driving force in this
change is surprising. It is not socialism or communism. It is not religion and
its moral concerns. It is not even our global political structures. Rather,
this once-amillennium opportunity is being driven by capitalism itself and its
relentless pursuit of digitalization. As I will show, that pursuit of
digitalization will cause markets to malfunction, labor to become valueless,
and investment to become meaningless. The logic of capitalism will stop
working. This has never occurred before, and because of it, we have the
opportunity to shape the future as no generation since the Renaissance.
But there is NO GUARANTEE!
Capitalism will be challenged as never before—that is for
certain—and the new digital world will offer an alternative paradigm.
Nonetheless, capitalism will fight back. It will wail and gnash its teeth; it
will thrash its body against the emerging alternative. It will resist and
attempt to impose its own alternative, which could be far worse than capitalism
as we know it. Set aside a few minutes to read this manifesto. Take notes and
write down your questions. See for yourself how this moment in history offers
us the opportunity to shape a new world unlike anything that has come before.
Our time is now.
The Opportunity No
One Is Talking About
What I am about to share with you is something even
society’s elites are beginning to understand, but dare not say. Here is the
basic truth: Capitalism is driving digitalization, automation, and robotic
production into the core of our society. It must do so because success in capitalism
requires it. Everyone knows this will change everything, but the secret no one
tells you is this: As a result of these changes, capitalism can no longer
function. And if capitalism cannot function, it will be replaced. And if
capitalism will be replaced, what will it be replaced with? You see, we are at
a unique moment in history. The last big change in our economic system occurred
about 500 years ago when feudalism—the system of lords, dukes, and kings—began
to break down, and a new system known as capitalism began to take root. Since
then, capitalism has become the dominant economic system in the world.
Now we are on the brink of capitalism’s
collapse, and it will be replaced as well.
Four Transformations:
The Postcapitalist Opportunity
As activists, environmentalists, and
social theorists, all the problems we are concerned about— racism, sexism,
homophobia, climate change, war, and so on—have the same root cause—the
capitalist system. The collapse of the capitalist system will not just change
our relationship to capitalist principles, it will actually replace these
principles altogether. q
Where capitalism is built on hierarchy, the postcapitalist world is built on
egalitarian networks. q
Where capitalism is built on violence and coercion, the postcapitalist world is
built on voluntary participation. q
Where capitalism is built on extraction, the postcapitalist world will be built
on conversion. q
Where capitalism is built on scarcity, the postcapitalist world is truly
abundant because it provides infinite supply at no cost. These new
principles—egalitarian networks, voluntary participation, conversion and
virtual connections, and digital abundance—are the organizing principles for
the new postcapitalist world. By replacing the old principles, these new ones
provide the possibility of a completely new way of organizing society. And yet…
It is entirely possible that we lose this opportunity. Capitalism will also be
driven toward digital monopoly and the control of network platforms. It will be
driven to maintain its global hegemony. It will attempt to sustain itself
according to its own crumbling principles. Eventually, it won’t work; but
eventually could be a long time. That is why I am publishing this manifesto
now. This transition, which is both inevitable and undefined, provides us with
the greatest opportunity in 500 years to shape a new economic system that
addresses the problems, injustices, and unfairness of the old capitalist
system. We have the opportunity to tear out the core principles underlying
bigotry. We have a chance to change the ethic so that no one profits from
environmental degradation or destruction. Indeed, we can define a new system
that frees individuals from the shackles of job-defined offices and enables
them to live to their highest and greatest potential. Yet, to take advantage of
these opportunities, we need to see them clearly, understand them, and know
where to take action and why it will work. This manifesto points the direction.
You see, it will be up to us—the activists, environmentalists, and social
theorists—to define what will replace capitalism. From foundational principles
to specific policies and legal frameworks, everything is on the table. There is
a competition brewing for the new dominant ideas—capitalism will certainly try
to sustain itself—and a new set of ideas, generally known as postcapitalism,
will arise to compete with capitalism. This is our opportunity to define those
ideas, but this opportunity will only last for a while. The moment is upon us.
In fact, it is already happening.
Where We Are Today—
The Four Pillars of Capitalism Capitalism is based on the
four principles of hierarchy, violent coercion, extraction, and scarcity, and
it uses all of these principles to define social, political, and economic
relationships. I call these four principles “pillars” because they are the
foundation of a capitalist perspective. All of capitalism’s power and all of
its problems derive from these four pillars.
Hierarchy
The first pillar is hierarchy. Capitalism requires a
hierarchy so that power can flow through the system. Organizations are set up
as a hierarchy of offices, with each office exercising power over a certain
realm of activity, which often includes other offices beneath it. The office on
top exercises power over the office on the bottom, and often the bottom office
is an individual employee. All corporations are structured this way. All
militaries are structured this way. All governments are structured this way. It
doesn’t matter who the people are that fill those offices; it only matters that
the office be competently filled by someone who is responsible for carrying out
that office’s tasks. In this way, hierarchy has defined our economic
relationships for centuries. But hierarchy goes much deeper, too. As a
structural component of the capitalist society, it defines how the power flows,
not just in business, but also in social and political relationships. In fact,
it is so endemic to our culture that, in the mainstream, we tend to view
hierarchical relationships as “normal,” and hierarchy becomes the basis of
social power differentials in our society.
Violent Coercion
The second pillar is violent coercion. Capitalism is
fundamentally coercive. It uses violence to coerce people into compliance,
especially in the various forms of labor. Violence breaks strikes and peaceful
protests; it drives conquest and the control of resources; it is the root of
destruction in the natural environment; and violence was the core of slavery.
Finally, violence is the threat behind the rule of law that enables police, as
representatives of the state, to keep order, and which too easily devolves into
the brutality against people lower in the hierarchy, thus displaying the
negative, abusive side of the Rule of Law. Violence has nearly always involved
the dehumanized image of one’s enemy, and the practice of violence usually
habitualizes dehumanization. For those involved, it is easier to hate and to
kill when indigenous populations are viewed as “savages,” or when they believe
that “the only good German is a dead German,” as many soldiers did during WWII,
or when young black men are perceived as threatening criminals by law
enforcement and the media. This dehumanization is a central part of most social
ills.
Extraction
The third pillar of capitalism is extraction. Capitalist
success depends on access to the resources needed to be extracted through
activities like mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and logging and
clear-cutting. This principle makes capitalism intensely geographic, and led to
the development of previously nascent ideas of private property and state control
of territory—over time, states came to control territory so that private land
ownership could be defended, and lumber, mining, and mineral extraction rights
could be exercised. Perhaps like no other principle, this one shows the
interconnections between the capitalist system and our current forms of
government. Extraction and
exploitation are required in an economy that uses things up—either by burning
them or using them to produce something else, which also gets used up.
Extraction is further magnified by capitalism’s imperative to grow—endlessly,
into new markets, and for the purpose of maintaining profits. Extraction, then,
is tied to the consumption economy—capitalism needs people to burn, waste, and
dispose more and more resources every day so that the economic activity of
extraction can march forward.
Scarcity
The fourth and final pillar is scarcity. The capitalist
market depends on the scarcity of goods and services because limited supply
creates competition among buyers. When capitalism manufactures a product, it
creates one unit of the product, and if more than one person wants that
product, then competition arises. This competition among buyers creates demand
and pushes up prices and profits, both of which are good for the capitalists.
Without scarcity, the market cannot function, and capitalists cannot sell their
goods.
The Foundation
Activists, environmentalists, and social theorists have long
known that the roots of our current challenges trace back to these four
principles. In their writings, these people describe how hierarchy, violence,
and dehumanization, for example, provide the roots of racism, sexism,
homophobia, and xenophobia. They show that extraction, violence, and scarcity
support mining, drilling, and deforestation. In other words, the systemic
oppression described by activists and critics derives directly from the
capitalist system and its core principles. Just as the strength of capitalism has
been an obstacle to social change in the past, the disintegration of the system
now presents a tremendous opportunity for social and environmental change. As
capitalism crumbles, a new system can be created that does not systemically
support racism, misogyny, climate change, war, environmental degradation, and
homophobia. The last time this happened, feudalism crumbled and capitalism
emerged to reorganize society. This time capitalism will crumble, and it is up
to us to shape postcapitalism, which will reorganize society once more.
How Do We Know
Capitalism Will Collapse?
Capitalism will not be able to continue on its
centuries-long path of gradual, continuous growth because of three
discontinuities emanating from its own intrinsic logic. Those discontinuities
are: q The inability to price
digital products q The
inability to create demand among superfluous workers q The inability to account for
externalities A break in the capitalist system is inevitable because capitalism
must create digital products, eliminate labor wherever possible, and it must
never account for externalities. Both at the macroeconomic level and at the
individual business level, these three imperatives drive behavior, occur
simultaneously, and undermine the foundations of capitalism. Astonishingly,
capitalism has no mechanism for dealing with any of these three
discontinuities.
The Problem with
Digital Products
We are in the midst of a digital revolution which is likely
to create a digitalized economy. While this may seem innocuous, the first
discontinuity is that markets cannot figure out how to handle digital
products—and they never will. To understand what I mean, I need to take a brief
detour into how markets set prices under capitalism and show you how those same
mechanisms do not, and indeed cannot, work for digital products.
How Prices Are
Determined in Capitalism
Capitalist markets set prices using the law of supply and
demand. This law states that prices are determined by the ratio of supply to
demand. Hence, the higher supply is in relation to demand, the lower prices
will go. The more demand increases over supply, the higher prices will go. It
is a simple concept. While the pricing mechanism of supply and demand suggests
that prices fluctuate as supply and demand change, there is one limit: Prices
below the cost of production cannot be sustained. Rational businesses will not
produce at a loss, so the cost of production functions as a real-world limit on
how far market prices can decline. When businesses opt out because prices go
too low, production stops, supply goes down, and that makes prices rise again.
What Happens to
Supply and Demand in a Market for Digital Products?
Digital products have a unique feature—they have no cost of
production. Think of ebooks, for example. Once an ebook is on a server, it can
be downloaded one time or a million times at no difference in cost to the
producer. This fact creates a problem for markets in two ways. First, if the
cost of production is zero, then there is no downward limit to prices until the
product is essentially free. Second, supply is infinite. In other words, the
limited supply (or scarcity) on which pricing depends has turned into
abundance. There is infinite supply. Under these conditions, the law of supply
and demand can no longer accurately price products in the marketplace, and
prices fall until the products are free. In other words, the market function on
which capitalism depends no longer works. It is one thing to think of ebooks
and music, but the reality is that all products are increasingly digitalized
and susceptible to the same dynamics. As products continue to take on more and
more digital components, or as they become completely digitalized (thereby
replacing traditional products), markets in those products will break down—just
like it did with ebooks. On the open internet, there are millions of free
ebooks, PDFs, videos, and other digital products, thereby demonstrating the
reality of a digitally abundant market in which prices collapse to zero. Here
is the problem: When products are free, the entire rationale for capitalist
investment no longer makes sense. Capitalists don’t invest to sell free
products, and they don’t pay workers to produce free products. Capitalism
requires the capability of a profit, but no profit is available when the market
cannot create a price. The economy can handle a few product categories
collapsing in price, but as digitalization spreads to construction, cars,
clothing, and even food production—all of which are currently happening—capitalism
ceases to function in any meaningful way.
Automation Eliminates
Labor
The second discontinuity is automation and robotic
production. Here is an example of the impact: In 2016, Adidas announced that it
is opening a new production facility in Germany to replace some factories in
southeast Asia. They are not doing this by reducing labor costs—they are doing
it by eliminating labor costs. They are replacing people with robots. The new
factory will ultimately produce 500,000 pairs of shoes per year, and it will
employ only 160 people, none of whom actually make the shoes. For capitalists,
production without labor is a dream. The problem is that while production robots
do not need to be paid, they also do not buy things. Capitalism depends on
consumption to drive its economic engine, so if no one has a job, they also
have no income; and if they have no income, who is going to buy the products?
Climate Change—The
Inescapable Reality
The third discontinuity is the inability to account for
externalities. Externalities are the byproducts, garbage, waste, and pollution
that a company generates but doesn’t have to pay for. Externalities come in the
form of pollution, systemic financial risk, social problems, disease and
debilitation, and wasted energy. For all of capitalism’s history, these
externalities were treated as unfortunate byproducts which were largely someone
else’s problem—the people downstream, the government, the poor and
poverty-stricken, or the indigenous inhabitants. And they remained ignored as
someone else’s problem so long as capitalists didn’t need to pay for them.
Climate change is caused by centuries of pollution diffusing through the
atmosphere and trapping heat, much like a greenhouse does. This pollution has
always been treated by capitalism as an externality. But now that climate
change is affecting everyone everywhere on earth, and scientists tell us that
we are nearing the point where the balance is tipped and continued climate
change will take on its own life, the pollution causing climate change has
ceased to be an externality. Instead, it is a fact demonstrating that the
externalities must be accounted for. There is no escape—not for the wealthy,
not for the poor, not for business, labor, or consumers, and not for anyone in
any given country. It cannot be made into someone else’s problem anymore. It
cannot be privatized. Eventually, we swelter together or perish in catastrophic
climate events. In essence, climate change means capitalism has run its course.
The Inevitable
Collapse of Capitalism
One would think that, given these three realities
(digitalization, automation, and climate change), the capitalists would change
course. Maybe, but here is the problem—they cannot help themselves. The
capitalist system intrinsically requires all actors to consistently drive costs
of production down in order to increase profit margins and stay competitive. As
digitalization happens, they all have to digitalize to keep up. The same is
true of robotic production—anyone producing without robots will not be able to
compete. Likewise, capitalist elites cannot even acknowledge climate change
because then they would have to acknowledge that the global capitalist project
has brought humankind to the brink of collapse. For business, incurring the
expense of unilateral action on climate change makes it impossible to compete.
Capitalism cannot stop its own relentless juggernaut because to do so is to
repudiate capitalism at its very essence. This is what makes the collapse
inevitable. Digitalization, robotic production, and ongoing pollution in the
form of greenhouse gases will continue to feed the three discontinuities, and
there is no way for capitalism to stop it. In essence, capitalism has
established a race toward its own end. On one hand, climate change could lead
us to a catastrophic collapse, probably through a series of catastrophic
events, such that capitalism cannot continue because society, or the planet
itself, is radically changed. On the other hand, capitalism careens toward a
technological future that undermines its own principles, and a new type of
society arises from that challenge. One way or another, capitalism comes to an
end.
The Four
Transformations in Detail: Our
Postcapitalist Opportunity
The opportunity for transformation lies in the earliest
possible move to postcapitalist principles. We need to articulate, celebrate,
and advance these ideals, and while they are inevitable, it is not inevitable
that humanity will be in good shape when it does. To review, the four transformations
are as follows: q
Capitalist hierarchy is replaced by postcapitalist egalitarian networks. q Capitalist violent
coercion is replaced by postcapitalist voluntary participation. q Capitalist extraction is
replaced by postcapitalist conversion. q
Capitalist scarcity is replaced by postcapitalist abundance. By replacing the
old capitalist principles, the new postcapitalist principles offer the
possibility of a completely new way of organizing society. Words are one thing,
but what do these ideas actually mean? And how will they change our society?
Transformation 1: The
New Networked World
Networks are the opposite of hierarchy. Rather than
hierarchical offices, which outlast the individuals who occupy them, networks
are made up of relationships and connections between real people. In a network,
when the person disconnects, all their relationships do as well. When networks
become the dominant mode of organizing society, thereby replacing hierarchy,
our whole way of thinking about the world will change with it. In a hierarchy,
the predominant social currency is power as expressed in the exercise of the
power of the office. In a network, the predominant social currency is
influence, as expressed in one’s ability to influence opinion, ideas, and
people. Whereas hierarchy spurs competition for the limited number of positions
of power, networks open the possibility of unlimited connections and an
abundance of influences from many different sources. Thus, networks create a
completely different mental model of the world—one in which power dynamics are
almost incomprehensible because there is no hierarchical mental model to
support it. Without any sense of the privilege of office, what is the value of
creating an imagined office of racial or ethnic supremacy? In networks, the
projection of influence occurs through connection, not through domination. New
mental models actually do change the system of oppression in the minds of everyone.
Transformation 2:
Voluntary Collaborative Production
Voluntary production collaboratives like Wikipedia, Linux,
and Sugar CRM are on the forefront of the rejection of violence and
capitalistic coercion. Collaborative production communities create products
because they want to participate in them. They are totally voluntary, they
produce products of great value, and the products are usually free. Because
they are free, however, no one can exert control. Rather, these communities
create and adopt standards for participation collaboratively and largely
self-police for compliance. Postcapitalism offers the chance to model society
based on voluntary participation rather than coercion, and in so doing, to
subvert the ideology of violence. Voluntary collaborative production means that
people are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do by a
method of organizing society that they never asked for or wanted to be a part
of. Although it may be difficult to imagine, poverty begins to lose meaning in
such a world. Labor equity issues vanish. People are doing what they want to
do.
Transformation 3:
Conversion
Where capitalism must
extract and exploit, postcapitalism will convert. The difference is that while
extraction uses things up, conversion does not. Conversion is what happens in
the digital world. We convert sunlight to power, we convert digits to words, we
convert air into life when we breathe it. The source for conversion is in
infinite supply—sunlight, digits, and air. If I get some, it doesn’t mean there
is less for you. We don’t sell the source; we simply experience it. The ethic
of conversion completely transforms our use of resources, what we need, and how
we get it, and brings to a close the ongoing juggernaut of resource
exploitation around the world. Instead of fighting or competing over a scarce
resource, the economy is driven by these conversions. When the paradigm shifts,
we will find more and more opportunities for conversion of abundant resources
rather than exploitation of limited ones. Capitalist activities like pollution
and conquest come to an end because they are valueless, and hence, conversion
is the key factor putting an end to climate change and the war on indigenous
cultures in the new postcapitalist world.
Transformation 4:
Abundance
Finally, capitalist
scarcity disappears and is replaced by abundance, and this change brings an end
to the deadly competition of capitalism. In fact, the whole idea of competition
will fail to make sense anymore. There will always be enough, and we will
always have it accessible. Instead of markets pricing scarce goods and
services, they will simply be available on an asneeded basis, whether it is
food, transportation, or housing. It will be freely given because the new
postcapitalist wealth will not be based on “transfers” but rather on the
engagement and conversion of the abundance that is given to us. This can be the
basis for the elimination of poverty and oppression of all kinds.
These Principles
Change Everything
Just as the pillars
of capitalism—hierarchy, violence, extraction, and scarcity—form the foundation
of the world we have today, replacing them with networks, collaborative
production, conversion, and abundance will lead to a very different,
postcapitalist world. The exact outcome of that world is not known, but if
these pillars and principles do in fact change, there are many new
possibilities. We will explore a few now.
The End of Systemic
Fear
Consider the four
principles that underlie capitalism: hierarchy, violence, extraction, and
scarcity. How can one view the world through anything other than a lens of
fear? That some people do is a testament to their strength, their good fortune
in life, and the good work they have done to achieve success. But it doesn’t
change the reality that the main tone of life in such a world is fear—fear that
I won’t get my share, fear that someone will take mine from me, fear that my
opportunity will disappear. This fear is critical to understand because it is
the emotional source feeding sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia. It
underlies war and competition. It makes us forsake our fellow human beings,
forsake the natural world, and even forsake our own lives in an endless pursuit
of an unachievable security. Fear is sustained by capitalism’s hierarchical
worldview, the competition resulting from scarcity, and of course, the violence
endemic to the system. Where is the fear in egalitarian networks, voluntary
collaborative networks, conversion, and abundance? How does oppression sustain
itself without fear? Without scarcity? Without competition for survival?
Postcapitalism will transform the core principles of society and it will be
experienced as a relief from fear. When fear dissipates, it is possible for the
whole apparatus of systemic oppression to fall away.
The End of Climate
Change
The conversion economy is going to replace the extraction
economy; the only question is if it will happen soon enough to stop climate
change before it becomes irreversible, or worse, before it becomes
self-reinforcing. According to climate scientists, runaway climate change takes
hold at an average temperature increase of two degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit. They also tell us we are halfway there. This problem cannot be
fixed by doing less of what causes it; it will only be stopped by meeting
society’s needs in a qualitatively different manner. The conversion economy
converts highly abundant resources such as sunlight into the energy we need, so
that in the conversion economy, there is always enough energy, there is no
scarcity, and there is no pollution. That is how climate change can be solved.
But let’s be clear here: The change that is necessary isn’t just a new
technology. Improvements in the power conversion technology of solar is important,
but if deployed within a capitalist paradigm, it either will not work or will
cause related problems that will perpetuate the climate problem. Building solar
farms is not a solution, putting solar panels on your roof is. Solar farms
disconnect production from consumption (a capitalist paradigm), whereas the
rooftop production moves production to consumption in a new postcapitalist
paradigm. In other words, we need to move past the capitalist paradigm and into
a postcapitalist conversion economy. When this happens, just think of the
possibilities! With no extraction and no scarcity, the geography of mineral
resources becomes irrelevant. There’s no need for big state control, or
pipelines, or power plants. Mining comes to an end. Clear-cutting is no longer
necessary, nor is it even profitable. To make it happen and to fulfill this
promise, we will need to work at it. Universal
Basic Income—The End
of Poverty and Coerced Labor
Digitalization and the free economy of the future will
inevitably clash with the capitalist economy of the present; transition periods
are like that. As an answer to job losses, poverty, and the need for consumer
demand, many people are proposing a universal basic income. The idea is that
every human being receives a stipend each month for simply being alive. No
work, no minimum wage, no strings attached. You get a check from the government
every month because you are alive. Basic income is an obvious answer to
poverty, unemployment, and maintaining consumer purchasing power. But equally,
it creates a basis for the flowering of art, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
Think of it—what would you do if you didn’t have to worry about being out on
the street without income, nowhere to live, and no food to eat? What business
might you try? What art might you create? Would you just hang out with friends
and enjoy life? Universal basic income has the power to unleash the passion of
creativity and the joy of leisure without making it subservient to the
commoditized world of the market. You will never have to work at a job you hate
just to make ends meet. Basic income is just one of the ideas coming from the
postcapitalist world. It is an idea to explore and to advocate. New ideas are
also being developed by many theorists, activists, and intellectuals. Fostering
these ideas through creation, networks, and advocacy is the goal of the
postcapitalist project today.
Direct Democracy and the End of Power
Mandates The end of
hierarchy as an organizing principle also means the end of hierarchical
representative democracy. Hierarchy created government offices with their
duties and powers, and whether intended or not, these offices have effectively
ensured that government does the business of the powerful elites long before it
thinks of doing the so-called “people’s business.” In other words,
representative democracy is uniquely effective at supporting capitalism. The
digitalized, postcapitalist world of the future will likely replace
representative democracy with direct democracy, wherein citizens vote on laws
and bills directly using the internet. For example, Congress (or Parliament)
might be expected to develop and negotiate the bills, but approval or denial
comes from the people themselves. The digitalized, networked world enables the
mechanism, and the postcapitalist collaborative production model normalizes
that kind of communication and activity. Personally, I think this new model is
coming sooner than most people think. As government fails to do its job, ballot
initiatives are moving away from issues of charter or constitution and becoming
the defacto mechanism of the people to have a voice. Combine this frustration
with the breakdown of the supporting structures of capitalism, and it would
appear that direct democracy is not far away—despite its potentially enormous
logistical and participatory challenges.
The Power of
Ideas—Turning Promise Into Reality
Whatever we may hope for in the transformation of the four
principles of capitalism, the hopes are only possibilities. Activism and fighting
the powers that be will not be effective. Resistance is not enough. We have to
start with the engaged readers, the thinkers, and the theorists—people like
you. We need to create a conversation and a thought environment in which the
new ideas become the basic assumptions of reality, while the old principles
wither away. Historical shifts don’t happen in movements; they happen when
dominant ideas change. This is not a battle over an issue. Rather, we are in a
war for history. Postcapitalism represents the most challenging notion in
social theory today. It affects every aspect of society—religion, social
structures, politics, economics, safety nets, military motivations, and
business. Careers will be affected. Cities will change. New methods of living
will make our present look as quaint to the future as the peasantry of old
looks to us today. A new world is going to emerge no matter what; the question
is whether it tips into dystopic possibilities or turns toward opportunities
for a better world. To shape it into the better world, we need to understand
the most exciting opportunities and most innovative possibilities that are
emerging—and they are all over the place! We just need to know, explore, read,
and think for ourselves about what could be. We need imagination. We need
ideas. So, the first order of business is simple:
Download your own
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You will love reading these essays. I promise it will take
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selection of 8 of the 23 essays in the book. The titles include:
- A Guide to Our Future
-The Coming Collapse of Capitalism q Supercomputing: A Capitalist
response to the Postcapitalist Threat - Does Postcapitalism mean
Post-Democracy?
-Postcapitalism, Networks, and the new Post-State world - A Postcapitalist
Solution to Climate Change
-Abundant Digital Food
Problems and Opportunities in the Universal Basic Income
Dream Download it and read them. The essays collected here are the foundation
for the road ahead. You can get these essays absolutely free here.
Allow me to put this in perspective...
Today, even as you read this manifesto, capitalism is
reshaping itself to maintain power in response to digitalization. So-called
“platform capitalism” is becoming what steel and railroads were in the “robber
baron” age. Companies are jockeying for monopolistic control of the platforms
on which all these networks will exist. You can see it in Amazon, Facebook, and
Netflix, for example. Or, they are moving to consolidate control over the
digital pipes that tie us together—companies like Comcast and CenturyLink are
trying to gain control in what they euphemistically call their own version of
“preserving an open internet.” Still others are fighting to attain ownership of
genes they did not produce and of water that is not theirs. These moves are
standard for capitalism trying to control a market in monopolistic fashion. If
they win, the old principles probably endure. And, if they win, the primary
reason will be the lack of compelling alternative ideas.
It is our ideas—yours, mine, writers still to publish, and those of the general public—that will ultimately shape the new postcapitalist world. Ideas shape the opportunity in all the areas of change most people care about. For example: q What climate change activist would not like to rewrite the rules for the global economy? That chance is here. q What racial justice activist would not like to build a society on egalitarian, nonhierarchical principles? We have that opportunity now. q What peace activist would not like to eliminate the underlying drive for war—natural resource acquisition and control? The chance to do this is now. q Who would not want to end poverty through a basic income for all? We are on the verge of this revolution. It all depends on our ideas. Let’s create better ideas. The time is now.
It is our ideas—yours, mine, writers still to publish, and those of the general public—that will ultimately shape the new postcapitalist world. Ideas shape the opportunity in all the areas of change most people care about. For example: q What climate change activist would not like to rewrite the rules for the global economy? That chance is here. q What racial justice activist would not like to build a society on egalitarian, nonhierarchical principles? We have that opportunity now. q What peace activist would not like to eliminate the underlying drive for war—natural resource acquisition and control? The chance to do this is now. q Who would not want to end poverty through a basic income for all? We are on the verge of this revolution. It all depends on our ideas. Let’s create better ideas. The time is now.
