“Four Futures, Life after Capitalism”

Peter Frase's book, [1] "Four Futures, Life after Capitalism," takes on the industry's increasing automation, class struggle hierarchy, and inevitable scarcity that emerge as a future concern. The book attempts to enrich the environment, the approach, and the perspective to discuss it further. He uses the 'speculative fiction' method to create an alternative to the current social and economic equilibrium portrayed.

It is argued that one can go beyond the traditional notion of working for wages. Instead, the measure of wealth should be depicted as libertarian self-reliance, autarchic use of leisure time, and personal satisfaction rather than money. The author states that he concluded it by reading Karl Marks and Science Fiction too much. [2]

Soft Science Fiction

When people think about science fiction, they think of aliens, physics-based, utopian science, and science fiction based solely on science. Still, there is soft science fiction, another model after speculative fiction. He describes his approach as solely social science fiction or a mix of social science fiction and science fiction.

Today, individuals might define the future based on empirical evidence, their standards and perception of life, and their hopes and beliefs concerning the future. Thus, we call this a definition of the future based on imposed limitations and characteristics emanating from human nature.

Four Segments

The book presents the speculative fiction method as an alternative to facilitate the definition of possible problems that may emerge and then formulate a creative tool and discussion environment to determine the consequences and potential solutions. Furthermore, speculative fiction explores how to define the so-called 'epitome of the recent past' beyond itself and what it will look like in the future. With this approach, a socioeconomic structure is assembled between two essential axes—horizontal "Resources" and vertical "Policy" (see Figure 1).

One end of the resources axis (horizontal axis) is "scarcity," and the other end is "abundance." One end of the Policy axis (vertical) is "utopian equality," and the other end is "hierarchy/sharp class separation."

The area (axes) between these two axes is the socioeconomic structure in which the assets interacting with the two axes are located (see Figure 1).

Finally, the author divides the area between the axis into four segments with a theoretical approach by saying, "During the post-capitalist era, global economies will evolve into one of these four models: (1) Communism, (2) Socialism, (3) Rentism, or (4) Exterminism."

How Future Shapes

Using these definitions, we can create four possible socioeconomic structures. These are shaped by the ecological axis's edges of abundance and scarcity and the class struggle axis's edges of utopian equality and sharp class separation/hierarchy.

Where we are headed is characterized by the significance of propensity in "property/asset relations" and proclivity concerning "power relations" within the respective societal equilibrium (see Figure 1.)

Moreover, as capitalism tries to eliminate "unwanted labor" through new technologies like artificial intelligence and robots, "the changing tapestry and conjunction of entities that form the unique fabric of life will take a deterministic stance about our future," he writes. It means where we land is in our hands.

Four Futures

As for the definitions of the four futures,

Utopian Society

The fundamental argument in Marxism is "each according to his ability and his needs." [4] According to the author's vision of the Communist future, ecological abundance (enough resources) and utopian class equality make it a utopian society. Imagine displacing problems such as sexism and racism from capitalist texture; it will be easier to deal with them; therefore, the ideal structure of a utopian society will form cohesively.

A Socialist Future

While insisting that 'we have a degree of class struggle,' calling the classified society egalitarian has been controversial. [5] In such socioeconomic structures, if there is a lack of resources while equality of classes is presumed to exist, a socialist future will prevail.

Rentism Segment

The concept of rentism (or property rights, rent, etc.) defines a property relationship based on commission and rent, in contrast to the Star Trek and Karl Marx types of society that the author says he watches or enjoys reading. That is, generating income from access to intangible assets such as patents and copyrights. Besides physical property, intellectual property rights are also mentioned in this concept. The capitalist society sees intellectual property as a right. At the same time, the state draws the boundaries of intellectual property, and its weight protects the economic power and interests of the nations. The rentism segment emerges when the abundance of resources supports socioeconomic structures in which hierarchy exists.

A dystopian socio-economic structure

The last and, as the name suggests, the most extreme future is 'Exterminism,' and it is noted that this concept is borrowed from Edward Thomson [6]. In the destructive future, labor will be entrusted to artificial intelligence and robots and become automated. As a result, the interdependence between capital and labor vanishes, there is a shortage of resources, and a dystopian society emerges. Subsequently, this transforms the norm of superfluous citizens, and massive unemployed masses become a societal threat. It concludes that the solution is to destroy them, marking the emergence of a dystopian socioeconomic structure and society.

In Closing

For those interested, Azra Kohen [7] exhibits similar socioeconomic structures in her book "Aeden (Akilah Azra Kohen)" [8] with more concrete and real-world examples from another window. Dan Lyons' [9] Lab Rats [10] discloses the inspiration of those who form this socioeconomic structure.

The book provides a unique perspective on our thinking by bringing a new dimension to the discussion of how the collapse of capitalism might affect global society.

PS: Please visit my website for project documents and additional articles. https://www.strategyzerlab.com/knowledgelab

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[1] He is one of the editors of the Jacobin periodical (the leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture), and he is a doctoral student at the City University of New York (CUNY) 2020.

[2] [3] Jacobin and Verso Books for the official launch of Jacobin Editor Peter Frase's book "Four Futures: Life After Capitalism" (2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyyy65L0y84

[4] From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_needs

[5] The article explores 'egalitarian society' and 'class struggle' issues differently and uses a historical perspective. https://www.grundrisse.net/grundrisse22/tellingTheTruthAboutClass.htm —

[6] Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilization by Edward Thompson https://bit.do/fjvmm

[7] A Turkish record-breaking author and psychologist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azra_Kohen

[8] The book "Aeden - Bir Dünya Hikayesi" by Azra Kohen, https://tinyurl.com/amazon-aeden

[9] A former technology journalist with Newsweek and a marketing associate at HubSpot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lyons

[10] The book "Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us" by Dan Lyons, https://www.amazon.com/Lab-Rats-Silicon-Valley-Miserable/dp/031656186X