Dowsing for Divinity

As a science fiction geek, I want to know where my fully automated luxury space communism went.

I don’t want to live in the Handmaid’s Tale, aka Project 2025, though I acknowledge that all the things in the Handmaid’s Tale have already been done to Black and Indigenous women.

These are only the most obvious and visible dystopian nightmares, however. In the dank corners of the internet, other scary visions are brewing.

There are also some hopeful scenarios available.

Accelerationism

I’m not an expert on accelerationism, but it’s an idea that’s been gaining ground since 2016. Basically there are two kinds of accelerationism: the right wing version and the left wing version. Accelerationism is called that because its adherents want to accelerate towards the violent collapse of capitalism and liberal democracy.

In the right wing version of accelerationism, the US and probably Canada divide up into corporate fiefdoms, with CEOs as petty kings. This was apparently dreamed up by tech bros from Silicon Valley. Quite often these feudal systems are also ethno-states, and there is no room for any sort of diversity. If you want a plausible scenario of how these fiefdoms would operate, read the Emberverse series by SM Stirling, which depicts a feudal society where a few SCA members with big egos recruit a bunch of criminal thugs and recreate the very worst era of Norman feudalism.

In the left wing version of accelerationism, capitalism finally eats itself and is replaced by some sort of primitivist anarchist utopia. It is not explained how human nature will suddenly improve to the extent that such a utopia will be possible. I’m not saying that anarchist societies are not possible: many examples exist and have existed in the past. But they require social cohesion to survive.

The problem with both versions of accelerationism is that they are deeply ableist. In order for disabled people to survive (and I’m talking about all disabled people, including those with diabetes or Crohn’s or EDS or autoimmune diseases), you need a means of manufacturing the medicines that they need, or they’ll die. The people who embrace accelerationism don’t appear to care about that.

Acceleration is also very likely to result in considerable social upheaval and loss of life (see The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler for how that might develop).

We do need to get rid of capitalism because its doctrine of perpetual economic growth is destroying the planet, but I definitely don’t think accelerationism is the answer.

Cooperative economics

There are many different forms of cooperative. The most famous examples in the UK are the Co-operative supermarkets and the John Lewis chain, where every employee has shares, votes for board members, and receives dividends. Cooperative businesses usually invest in their local area, more so than profit-driven ones. They’re founded on the principle of mutual support. This economic model seems to me the most likely candidate for replacing capitalism, partly because it already exists, it’s founded on sound principles, and society could peacefully transition to this model. Interestingly there is a very early science fiction novel based on the idea of cooperatives: News from Nowhere by William Morris.

Indigenous futures

In order to live sustainably and in harmony with the Earth, we also need to look at Indigenous cultures and how they operate, and their animist traditions and perspectives. 80% of the biodiversity on Earth is in areas cared for by Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous ways of knowing about the local environment and how to live in it are vital to the survival of humanity.

Various Indigenous authors have written science fiction in the genre of Indigenous Futurism. Many of these stories are dystopian, others are not. As you’d expect, there’s a strong anti-colonial element to these narratives.

Whither now?

It’s not currently clear which of these scenarios will play out, but we need to be steering towards a decolonized, Indigenous, cooperative future and not a Blade Runner, Handmaid’s Tale, Parable of the Sower, Emberverse type future.

One way to create the future we want to see is through creating Temporary Autonomous Zones.

The student encampments are temporary autonomous zones (TAZs) where students are demonstrating alternative ways to live: that people from different backgrounds and religions can live side by side, and cooperate. If we want to move away from capitalism, colonialism and the dogma of perpetual growth and exploitation, we need to start creating alternative ways to live. The cooperative movement is an excellent example of this principle, as are Hakim Bey’s ideas of the temporary autonomous zone, and the successful anarchist movements and villages.

There are many small cooperative villages, houses, and intentional communities. Some of them have been established for decades. In these spaces, people operate either by direct democracy or by consensus process. There are also transition towns where the community is migrating towards sustainability.

Out of these tiny seeds, a sustainable way of life may emerge.