{"id":1543,"date":"2021-04-16T19:54:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T16:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/?p=1543"},"modified":"2021-05-10T20:25:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T17:25:00","slug":"antara-haldar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/antara-haldar\/","title":{"rendered":"Antara Haldar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Antara’s view on postcapitalism. – A contribution to m\u03adta. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future History of Capitalism: An Abridged Story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, we were told a story <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It went like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bounties of the earth are endless, and we could all be rich without limit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The formula required just one, surprising, magic ingredient \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human selfishness<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were told this tale by those who claimed to be Men of Science <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, so, we believed them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story started well <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Kingdoms of the North, peace reigned at last\u2014and with it, came prosperity like never before <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for the newly-freed Kingdoms of the South, or so they were told, it was just a matter of time <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a question of science after all: the alchemy of the art of selfishness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seasons came and seasons went<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the promised prosperity remained the exclusive preserve of the North <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it because the people of the South were simply not scientific enough? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, one dark autumnal day, came a storm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So powerful was this tornado that it ripped the golden plaster off the edifice of the Northern Empires <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And revealed what lay below as decaying and hollow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, even now, the Men of Science averted their gaze; turned a blind eye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strange sort of science, indeed; to be so immune to evidence\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the tempest had taken its toll <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internecine battles broke out within the Kingdoms of the North; Northerner fought Northerner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And prosperity dwindled; for the many, even if not the few <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But faith in the God-like qualities of Man, especially Selfish Man, remained unshaken <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To cull the infinite from the finite <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To craft technology without teleology <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do<\/em> good without being<\/em> good <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The might of man was never in question\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the Plague that is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as it froze the frame, around the world <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perversions of the way that had been were brought sharply into focus <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And other<\/em> ways of being illuminated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect of progress is (natural) science, not speculation\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change is <\/em>possible! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disproof of the dominant axioms\u2014the gospel of the so-called Men of Science\u2014is around <\/em>us, in<\/em> us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the intrinsic goodness that has propelled us this far<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Selfish Man is Man-Made, and for Man to Unmake <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By escaping the confines of an Outdated Theory <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The portal to a New Reality is a New Theory <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By reckoning with the true<\/em> contours of human nature <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something wonderful could be set in motion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the whirring in the background\u2026might just be that of the moral machinery clicking into action <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Birth of a New Protagonist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of reason but also emotion, science but also art <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of joy and belonging, community and caring <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rooted in ritual, but unshackled by the past.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, with a new protagonist would come the prospect of a new plot <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not of man against man (or woman), or North against South <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of meaning that is co-created, by Self and Other <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the dichotomies of selfishness and altruism: a narrative of (civic) friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with the start of a new story, comes the possibility\u2026of a new civilization <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps even a happy ending?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Dr Antara Haldar holds the inaugural position in Empirical Legal Studies at the University of Cambridge, where she is a tenured University Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and teaches courses on law, economics and philosophy. She concurrently holds appointments at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Judge Business School, and is a Governing Body Fellow at Peterhouse (Cambridge\u2019s oldest college). She is currently on a Fellowship at Stanford University and is also a Faculty Visitor at Harvard University. She convenes The Common Currency Project, an international alliance of some of the world\u2019s leading scholars engaged in rethinking economics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Empirical Legal Studies, University of Cambridge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-parts\/content-board.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_events_control_status":"","_tribe_events_control_status_canceled_reason":"","_tribe_events_control_status_postponed_reason":"","_tribe_events_control_online":"","_tribe_events_control_online_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advisory-board-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2784,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions\/2784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metacpc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}