Inventing the Future

Postcapitalism and a World Without Work

Paperback

Published Feb. 24, 2015 by Verso Books.

ISBN:
978-1-78478-098-2
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(4 reviews)

A major new manifesto for a high-tech future free from work

Neo-liberalism isn’t working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite.

Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a post-capitaiist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms.

2 editions

Review of 'Inventing the Future', 2015

TL;DR: work is dying, and we should help hospice it. Automation is actually good, capitalism isn't, and we have to address both at once. The struggle for a better world must include strategies which are long-term and wide-scoped in addition to the more familiar spectacular events we associate with leftist action. Another world is coming, we can help shape which.

I read this book 10 years after it was published; the analysis, arguments and proposals presented in the book seem to have only matured with time.

The book incorporates a lot of Marx (analysis of capitalism) and Gramsci ((counter-)hegemony). Piketty, Žižek and Fisher are mentioned. The book still very much "belongs" to the authors. Although this is a book of politics, analysis and theory, yet goes surprisingly far into practice.

It begins with a critical analysis of the contemporary left, coining the term "folk-political" to describe a combination of localism, …

Review of 'Inventing the Future' on 'Storygraph'

I really enjoyed this book. The premise is that the neoliberal status quo fails on a number of levels and that the work of the left is to regain mantle of "common sense" - that we can can eliminate poverty, improve healthcare and education, and remove suffering in work. The book lays out why this is needed, the benefits of a postcapitalist society powered by automation, and some suggestions for how ideas can change over time. The book is dense but very interesting - would highly recommend.

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