Book Club - Who would be keen for a new book club? I’d like to propose Cory Doctorow’s new work “Picks and Shovels” as our next read. It’s more on the theme of enshitification, more info and a kickstarter for its launch here. However, open to other suggestions - what would you like to read and analyze together? Share your recommendations below. Would also be good to hear your highlights of how to do a good book club
UNDP Conference - Istanbul Alberto, Joffa, Giacomo and I will be attending the UNDP conference in Istanbul this March, where we’ll be running a 2-hour session exploring alternative economic futures. We’ll share more details about our session in the catch up call and would welcome your input.
Summer Residency - Barcelona. I think our next 4-day residency will take place in Barcelona (timing TBC). The theme will be “Digital Life in 2080” - exploring how technology and economics might intersect. More details on exact dates will follow. Anyone else scheming workshops, residencies etc?
Next Steps:
Drop your availability for the community call
Share your thoughts on “Picks and Shovels” is it grappling enough with political economy or is there another book that would merit a deep dive?
Share any thoughts or questions about the upcoming residency theme
Share any projects or ideas you have for Sci Fi Econ in 2025 or other updates **
Random:
This interview between two sci fi econ authors Vorufakis and Doctorow is billed as being about Musk and his growing domination, but it’s about a lot more than that, including some historical analysis of how we got to this place. There’s also a few comments on how Europe could fight it’s way out of serfdom to the cloud capital giants.
What else - what are you watching, reading, listening to on the subject of sci fi econ?
Yay, nice to be back in action! Huge thanks to @Katebee for convening.
My timezone is Brussels. I imagine we will be meeting in the evening European time to accommodate the Americans; if so, Monday/Tuesday are my possibilities. Otherwise, I am often available in the morning of weekdays.
AFAIK, P&S has not yet been published. I subscribed to the Kickstarter campaign (goal: 10K USD in 25 days. Reality: 90K USD in 11 days), and will therefore receive my DRM-free e-book on January 28th.
Based on the teaser, however, P&S is to a first approximation about business, rather than economics. Likely, we can still draw economics-proper implications though. We’ll see.
Don’t know about “classic”. The classic of classics is Le Guin’s The Dispossed, but not sure if it is the best title for a public discussion. I am intrigued by Endrys’s Half-Built Garden. Doctorow’s The Lost Cause is fascinating for its just-out-of-reach Green New Deal world. And our own @ADH 's Our Shared Storm has the advantage of being close to the IPCC’s notion of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, plus we can make it easier by having participants focus only on the three most econ-heavy SSPs. More info on all these books, and more, in the wiki.
Ciao Kate!
Giuseppe and I are available any day 5PM-6PM in the week starting 10th Feb!
Best,
------ Messaggio originale ------
Da “Kate via Edgeryders” <contact@edgeryders.eu>
A g.pinaffo@fdcmessina.org
Data 14/01/2025 11:15:49
Oggetto [Edgeryders] [EarthOS/Scifi Economics] Reconvening Call, 2025 Initatives, book club selection, UNDP Conference, and Summer Residency Plans
thanks for this @Katebee ! I’d love to join. I’m in tbilisi, three hours ahead and between my 5 (your 2) and my 9 (your 6) PM isn’t ideal, but could make it work if planned in between those hours. Looking forward to it!
Great idea, would love to reconnect as well. My time zone is Lisbon. I’d also be down for the book club. I’ve been wanting to read Varouf’s Another Now but Doctorow’s seems relevant too.
Also curious why @alberto you think The Dispossesed would not be the best title for a public discussion (other than because probably everyone’s read it). That book got me into both sci-fi AND book clubs
Kate, I found and downloaded an epub version of P&S. I don’t have any suggestion for the reading. Please tag me when you decide on the book, day, and time. Thank you very much.
Wow, that Kallis article (@alberto) took me down quite the rabbit hole. I’m still mulling Georgescu-Roegen’s Promethian processes.
re Call:
I’m Arizona time, and could make extreme edges of a day work.
re Book Club:
I find most sci fi treatments of economics unsatisfactory, with the exception of LeGuinn and Robinson (Red Mars, New York 2140). The rest give hints of interesting stuff which ultimately doesn’t make sense, and sets the whole programme backward. That said, I’ve been intrigued by Chamber’s Monk & Robot works and what seems to be a gift economy with accounting, and though it’s very incomplete it’s at least consistent.
What are people looking to get out of a bookclub? We could go the other way and read econ, such as Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful, or Graeber’s Debt or Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. I’ve just started Romeo’s The Alternative but haven’t gotten far enough to recommend.
I’ll happily go along with any decision.
re Residency:
I’m excited about the possibility of a 4-day in Barcelona in early or late May. Meetings are important.
I beg to differ here. The point is not if sci-fi authors make good economists (which would be somewhat bizarre!), but what they bring to the table of economics debates that no one else does.
That said, we have had a blast back in the day with book clubs on Varoufakis’s Another Now and Robinson’s Ministry for the Future. I also wrote economic analyses of Doctorow’s Makers and Walkaway, plus some random stuff, like musing on where Modern Monetary Theory is found in science fiction.
As I was discussing with @alberto, it would be cool to suggest them a more structured sci-fi econ lab, perhaps building up on - and reinforcing what will emerge from those sessions? Just an idea
would be great to connect and reconnect with you all
)