Really interesting idea, but I think I'm missing (at least from this post) the argument for how speculation foments community. If anything the speculation framework would seem to center conflict: I can't win my bet unless there's a loser on the other side. Whereas I think neoliberal Panglossianism doesn't necessarily need a narrative of conflict, with its rising tides and growing pies.
To that end, it seems you could roughly hew most of the communities you listed into two groups: those that have clear opponents in their speculation(BLM, the Tea Party), and are thus basically doing politics; and those that don't have clear opponents (web3, Musk fanboys) and are thus "being suckers".
I think the really interesting notion, though, is of behemoths like Google and Facebook being participants in this process, rather than just the market makers. If that's the case (and it does feel like a correct observation to me), what's the name of the casino we're all in? Is it just that the world has gotten too complex, we're all circling in a Lorenz attractor now?
Yeah, I would say the bit of the book that I would like more clarity (or let's say development) on is the way speculation can create or foment community on a mechanical level. But as I understand it, AK-A borrows the framework from Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities," and suggests that it's the narrative that's important — the bet gives you and your compatriots an account of the future around which you can synchronize your understanding of the world. To the extent it mirrors the emergence of nationalism, the existence of someone on the other side of your bet is like the existence of the foreign other, I guess.
thanks so much for this richly insightful review Max! it made me think a lot about the ways you unpick web 3 and Musk - both are themes that I don't address explicitly in the book but I was fascinated to see you discuss through the lens of speculative communities. hoping to get a chance to discuss more sometime in future!
Thanks for the Komporozos-Athanasiou's book review. Looks very interesting. Tim Hwang also made a similar connection with dtech, speculative finace in his book "Subprime Attention Crisis" (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374538651/subprimeattentioncrisis) -- probably a less academic approach.
i wonder how this squares with the notion that recent political/discursive focus on the doom of climate catastrophe has foreclosed many horizons of future possibility - if anything, to many people it seems that climate change is a certain disaster rather than a speculative outcome (although i suppose you can speculate on the extent of the damage)
Really interesting idea, but I think I'm missing (at least from this post) the argument for how speculation foments community. If anything the speculation framework would seem to center conflict: I can't win my bet unless there's a loser on the other side. Whereas I think neoliberal Panglossianism doesn't necessarily need a narrative of conflict, with its rising tides and growing pies.
To that end, it seems you could roughly hew most of the communities you listed into two groups: those that have clear opponents in their speculation(BLM, the Tea Party), and are thus basically doing politics; and those that don't have clear opponents (web3, Musk fanboys) and are thus "being suckers".
I think the really interesting notion, though, is of behemoths like Google and Facebook being participants in this process, rather than just the market makers. If that's the case (and it does feel like a correct observation to me), what's the name of the casino we're all in? Is it just that the world has gotten too complex, we're all circling in a Lorenz attractor now?
Yeah, I would say the bit of the book that I would like more clarity (or let's say development) on is the way speculation can create or foment community on a mechanical level. But as I understand it, AK-A borrows the framework from Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities," and suggests that it's the narrative that's important — the bet gives you and your compatriots an account of the future around which you can synchronize your understanding of the world. To the extent it mirrors the emergence of nationalism, the existence of someone on the other side of your bet is like the existence of the foreign other, I guess.
thanks so much for this richly insightful review Max! it made me think a lot about the ways you unpick web 3 and Musk - both are themes that I don't address explicitly in the book but I was fascinated to see you discuss through the lens of speculative communities. hoping to get a chance to discuss more sometime in future!
Thanks for the Komporozos-Athanasiou's book review. Looks very interesting. Tim Hwang also made a similar connection with dtech, speculative finace in his book "Subprime Attention Crisis" (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374538651/subprimeattentioncrisis) -- probably a less academic approach.
i wonder how this squares with the notion that recent political/discursive focus on the doom of climate catastrophe has foreclosed many horizons of future possibility - if anything, to many people it seems that climate change is a certain disaster rather than a speculative outcome (although i suppose you can speculate on the extent of the damage)
Yes, I think there's still a wide range of possibilities even within the certainty of the disaster!