Bungacast

On the slowing rate of technological progress.

Alex, George and contributing editor (and science writer) Leigh Phillips discuss David Graeber's 2012 essay, Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit. This builds on two of this year's themes: state capitalism (how planning and growth – or their absence – intersect with technology) and the pre-political (how technology shapes

•⁠  ⁠Were we right to expect jetpacks? And are we looking in the right place for technological advances today?

•⁠  ⁠⁠Has technical progress actually slowed in the way Graeber says? 

•⁠  ⁠⁠Are the explanations he gives for slowdown correct?

•⁠  ⁠⁠What political tasks does this reality impose on us?

•⁠  ⁠⁠What is the role of geopolitics and war in the rate of technological development?

Links:

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit, David Graeber, The Baffler

Science Is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck, Patrick Collison & Michael Nielsen, The Atlantic

/59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski

Progress is in the balance between innovation and implementation, Phil Bell, LSE

Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction (On Robert C. Allen)

Engels’s Second Theory: Technology, Warfare and the Growth of the State

On the operating system of the 21st century.

Historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff talk to Alex Hochuli and Alex Gourevitch about their new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, and why we should ask "what is Musk a symptom of?"

If Fordism characterised the mid-20th century, are our times those of Muskism?

What are the touchstones of Muskism that the authors identify: fortress futurism, financial fabulism, state symbiosis?

Who is the real Musk, that of vehicles, energy, infrastructure, or that of the post-industrial stuff of social media, finance, AI?

What does Muskism promise people? How does it legitimise itself – if at all?

Is the state actually dependent on Musk, or is Musk dependent on the state?

How much of Musk's right-wing turn is necessary to Muskism, and how much is contingent? Is the racial component central?

Links:

Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff, Harper Collins

/57/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 1 ft. Alex Gourevitch

We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month or so. Key issues this month are:

What are the wrongs of the postmodern right – aand left?

Will the civilisational paradigm become hegemonic?

Is Trump's foreign policy techno-populist?

Whether, and how, to protest anti-immigration policing

To defend or to smash the professions?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

On anti-racism, communism, and philosophy.

Alex Gourevitch talks to political philosopher Paul Gomberg about his original and deep Marxist arguments for what makes racism wrong, why racism cannot be eradicated without overcoming capitalism, and the limits of many contemporary anti-racist arguments.

What does it mean to "alienate" race?

What is the harm in racism? How does it harm everyone, not just its obvious victims?

Why does Gomberg argue that can racism cannot be overcome in capitalist society?

Has official racism been replaced by official anti-racism in the neoliberal era?

What does it mean to understand anti-racism as communism?

How did Gomberg's communist militancy impact his philosophy?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Anti-Racism as Communism, Paul Gomberg, Bloomsbury

How to Make Opportunity Equal: Race and Contributive Justice, Paul Gomberg, Blackwell

On postmodern conservatives.

Matt McManus talks to Alex and George about a Right increasingly shaped by the parameters of postmodern culture – and his Damage article on this.

Who are the key thinkers of postmodern conservatism?

Does truth matter anymore?

Is "flooding the zone" an act of post-truth politics?

Does all that is solid melt into advertising – and is it Charlie Kirk's fault?

Is postmodern conservatism an adequate response the dissolution of the traditional “sources of the self”?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Conservativism as Postmodernism, Matt McManus, Damage

Why only Socialism can redeem Conservatism, Maurice Glassman, Together For The Common Good