Stainforth, E and Walton, JL (2019) Computing Utopia: The Horizons of Computational Economies in History and Science Fiction. Science Fiction Studies, 46 (3). pp. 471-489. ISSN 0091-7729
Abstract
This article connects the recent flourishing of economic science fiction with the increasing technicity of contemporary financial markets, to pose questions about computational economies, both historical and fictional, and their ambiguous utopian currents. It explores examples of computational economies and societies in which economic resources are largely defined and allocated by computational systems to challenge—if not entirely dispel—assumptions about the inextricability of computation and the dystopian specters of capitalism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism. The article puts insights from the histories of cybernetics, computer science, and economics into dialogue with sf novels that experiment with different sociopolitical configurations of computational economies. The novels that are the primary focus of the discussion are The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin and If Then (2015) by Matthew De Abaitua. The article concludes with some thoughts about the use of history and fiction for expanding the imaginative horizons of the computable in economics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 SF-TH. Reproduced with permission from the publisher. |
Keywords: | science fiction; economics; cybernetics; utopia; technology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Nov 2019 15:31 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:03 |
Published Version: | https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/index.htm |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SF-TH Inc |
Identification Number: | 10.5621/sciefictstud.46.3.0471 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:153213 |