I will take capitalism to mean not a thing in the world, but a certain way of being affected when trying to think through this strange mixture of miseries and luxuries we encounter when trying to come to terms with the dizzying interplays of “goods” and “bads”. Capitalism is a concept invented to help absorb this odd mixture of enthusiasm for the cornucopia of riches that has lifted billions of people out of abject poverty and the indignation, rage and fury in response to the miseries visited on billions of other people. Especially troubling to me is the feeling of helplessness that is associated with any discussion of economics and that I have so much trouble reconciling with what I consider science’s and politics’ main effects, these being the opening of new possibilities and the provision of margins to maneuver. Why is it that when we are asked or summoned to combat capitalism, we feel, I feel so helpless? Faced with such a question, I will start with this idea—that one of the affects of capitalism, that is, of thinking in terms of capitalism, is to generate for most of people who don’t benefit from its wealth a feeling of helplessness and for a few people who benefits from it an immense enthusiasm together with a dumbness of the senses. So when we use capitalism to interpret what is going on, we obtain, on the one hand, binding necessities from which there is no escape and a feeling of revolt against them that often results in helplessness; on the other, boundless possibilities coupled with a total indifference for their long-term consequences. -Bruno Latour, The Affects of Capitalism youtu.be/8i-ZKfShovs
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:49:52 +0000
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