Techno-Prosthetic Romantic FuturismAccumulating FuturesThe prosthesis of the future is money, at least in a Liberal or Neo-liberal social setting. When Locke solves the problem of decay, he invents the future, or at least one very powerful version of it. Money gives mortal things peristence: an "overplus of gold and silver . . . may be hoarded up without injury to anyone, these metals not spoiling or decaying." [1] A more disputable sentiment there never was, but it inaugurates whole societies, politics, and genres. Accumulation become cognition of the future. Every petty merchant thinks in science fiction. [2] Notes1. John Locke Second Treatise of Government (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980), 29. 2. As no one knows more keenly than Philip K. Dick. See (and read!) Ubik (1969 rpt.; New York: Vintage, 1991). Navigation |