Four Futures
Life After Capitalism

Science fiction is to futurism what social theory is to conspiracy theory: an altogether richer, more honest, and more humble enterprise. Or to put it another way, it is always more interesting to read an account that derives the general from the particular (social theory) or the particular from the......more

Peter Frase’s essay is an exercise in what is commonly known as 'scenario planning’. The author himself seems to be totally agnostic about this intellectual discipline that has a rich, decades-long history. But that doesn’t detract from his attempt to visualise a range of post-capitalist futures. Th......more

Thought experiments serve no value expect to make the reader think. It's a pity then, that these ask so little of that. Though I strongly suspect the brevity was an attempt to appeal to Frase's readers at Jacobin, it leaves little room for more than the briefest of conjecture in any of the four conc......more

Is there a horror movie villain you can think of that has more lives than capitalism? Rumors of its demise stretch back to the era of the trust-busters and the Progressive Party. Every time a depression or war or rival ideology seems to have the system on its knees, its limbs burst to life and someo......more

This book is a chilling account of humanity trying to cope with the "endgame" of capitalism, which up to the upcoming age of climate change and automation-induced unemployment, had enriched everyone's lives extraordinarily well. Frase's fourth scenario, "Exterminism" is a horrifying amalgamation of......more