Postcapitalism: Materialism, Decentralization, and Globalization

Abstract

Focusing on the material conditions of our existence and the evolutionary trajectory we have followed, we can appreciate first that capitalism and socialism have much in common, hence postcapitalism, and second, that group survival is just as powerful a mechanism for natural selection as the so-called survival of the fittest. Digital technologies seem to foster decentralization but paradoxically permit greater concentration of resources and power in the hands of the few, while encouraging a culture of distraction. The implication for the global proliferation of these technologies is greater wealth but one that cannot overcome global pockets of poverty.