Exploration of the utopias and dystopias that could develop from present society
Peter Frase is an editor at Jacobin magazine, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, and has written for In These Times and Al Jazeera. He lives in New York City.
This book is an exercise in public thinking as a political act,
charting courses for movement-builders and citizens. In a project
of that sort, a somewhat hysterical dystopia is worth the time of
day.
*Los Angeles Review of Books*
Frase injects a sorely needed dose of reality to the conversation,
and the result is invigorating...I lost sleep over it.
*Guardian*
Are the robots eating our jobs? Will technology set us free? These
questions aren't new, but Frase's approach to answering them is
refreshingly inventive. Four Futures is a thought-provoking work of
political speculation. This incisive little book offers the vital
reminder that nothing is set in stone-or silicon-and that in order
to fight for a better world we first need to be able to imagine
it.
*Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform*
An engaging thought experiment on the intersection of technology
and the environment. Indeed, as we ponder the interplay between
digital abundance and physical scarcity, the digital industrialist
solutions of most thinkers in this space pale in comparison to
Frase's more open-minded, less deterministic understanding of the
future unfolding before us.
*Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed and Present
Shock*
A remarkably clear-eyed view of the futures we're facing, bringing
humor and intelligence to the lab of speculative fiction to create
four smart and sharply lit early warning signals.
*Warren Ellis, author of Gun Machine and Transmetropolitan*
Brexit looms. Trump leers. Populism shouts. Reactionary politics
casts long shadows. The right and left tear at themselves and
stretch outwards. International tensions simmer. This seems like an
appropriate moment for re-envisioning, and contributions to this
process are arriving at some pace. Peter Frase's engaging short
book Four Futures: Life After Capitalism is another addition to
this collective reimagining.
*OpenDemocracy*
Frase deserves great credit for illuminating the possibilites our
politics, technology, and environment now enable and constrain.
Simultaneously entertaining and deep, Four Futures should inspire
more 'social science fiction'.
*Commonweal*
Takes the practice of speculation and puts it to powerful use on
the questions of automation and climate change.
*Red Pepper*
Frase's book provides a useful framework to think about life after
capitalism.
*Cultural Logic: Marxist Theory and Practice*
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