Yanis Varoufakis — Utopian science fictions legitimising our current dystopia – 2019 Taylor Lecture, Oxford University

Big! We really need to be talking about this and examining assumptions and presuppositions that act as hidden assumptions. Yanis is a systems thinker.

The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Oxford University, kindly invited me to deliver the 2019 Taylor Lecture on 12th February 2019. I chose the topic of Realistic Utopias versus Dystopic Realities – my aim being to highlight the manner in which really-existing capitalism is marketed as a utopian science fiction that has nothing to do with… really-existing capitalism. Behind this elegant utopian mathematical the powers-that-be hide a dismal dystopia that is failing humanity in a variety of ways.…

The emperor has no clothes.

Pure capitalism and pure socialism are both based on utopian thinking. They are ideal rather than real, based on models whose stipulated assumptions are not achievable in the real world given existing conditions. It is questionable whether those conditions could ever be met. 

This doesn't imply, however, that more ideal society as a functional utopia is not achievable by getting from here to closer to there, that is, getting from where we are now to where would like like to be and doing so realistically through iteration and incrementation. This is an evolutionary process in a complex adaptive system characterized by reflexivity and emergence, hence, affected by synergy with the implication of uncertainty. Conversely, trying to impose an ideal structural system constructed from assumptions is folly.

Utopian science fictions legitimising our current dystopia – 2019 Taylor Lecture, Oxford UniversityYanis Varoufakis

David F. Ruccio — Utopia—without classes

Good analysis of utopian versus utopianism. Short and important.

The difference is that between ideal and real. 

If the core assumptions are unrealistic and infeasible, then the consequent conceptual model will be "utopian" in the pejorative sense, and the project unachievable — "pie in the sky." If there is a disconnect between the ideal and the real, then it's utopianism.

If the assumptions are realistic and feasible, then the conceptual model will be "utopian" in the positive sense, and the project is achievable if implemented correctly.

If there is a disconnect between the ideal and the real, then it's utopianism.

Professor Ruccio explores how neoclassical economics and Marxian economics stack up in this regard.

Occasional Links & Commentary
Utopia—without classes
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame

David F. Ruccio — The practical necessity of utopian thinking

Julia O’Connell Davidson and Neil Howard have just announced a new series of articles on utopia.

Utopias are like formal models in that both are idealizations that can be used to gain insights. The issues arise when they are confused with reality or their use ignores practicality.

Compare also stylized fact, heuristic, creativity, and possibility thinking.

In critical thinking, all relevant information and suitable tools are brought to bear on the issues. If critical thinking is brought in too early, opportunities are likely to be overlooked.

Utopian thinking properly employed is about vision and possibility. I should be the starting point of doing economics.

For example, in economics an policy, actual full employment is regarded as utopian, so its consideration is off the table. Economic sociologist Adolf Lowe argued that a properly conceived economics is not to fall into the trap of markets dictate but that human beings can choose (within limits) the kind of society they wish to live in and construct it. Mathew Forstater has an interesting paper about the thinking of Abba Lerner and Adolf Lowe about constructing a "utopian" full employment society with institutions, resources, and tools that are presently available.*

Occasional Links & Commentary
The practical necessity of utopian thinking
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame

* Mathew Forstater, Toward a New Instrumental Macroeconomics: Abba Lerner and Adolph Lowe on Economic Method, Theory, History and Policy