Abstract
Science fiction authors choose between writing about worlds of scarcity and worlds of plenty. No matter which setting authors choose, their characters inevitably face fundamental economic questions. On one hand, if scarcity remains, what novel ways has society developed to deal with it? On the other hand, if scarcity is no longer a concern, how do people find purpose? Are property rights important if nothing is scarce? What role does money play if you can easily access anything you desire?
In Economic Science Fictions, Editor William Davies gathers essays that examine how works of science fiction address the economic questions that arise in various fictitious worlds. The theme that emerges, as laid out by Davies in the opening chapter, is that promarket types like Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises specifically, and neoliberal economic thinkers in general, are overly consumed by their devotion to markets. When such thinking dominates the world, the reliance on data gathering and risk calculations eventually removes the human element from society. The result is a world in which economic systems of all stripes fail to serve humanity
Science fiction provides a platform from which we can rethink our economic systems. According to Davies, if we are to reassert control over the direction of history, we must first recalibrate economic systems toward the goal of utopianism. Furthermore, Davies claims that to write science fictions about the economy is to insist on the possibility that imagination can intrude into economic life in an uninvited way that is not computable or accountable . . . In a time when capitalism and socialism have collapsed into each other, obliterating spaces of alterity or uncalculated discourse in the process, simply to describe unrealized (maybe unrealistic) economic possibilities is to rediscover a glimpse of autonomy in the process. (pp. 21-22)
Davies builds upon possibilities provided by science fiction. Much of what is done in traditional economic analysis, he claims, is fictional in nature. There is fantasy involved in the development of models, especially, those that are based on predicting the future. Making assessment of risks is, by nature, a science fiction story as this “represent[s] a reality that has not yet come about” (p. 23). Davies contends that the danger inherent in the capitalist system is that one combines “fictional futures with empirical facts” (p. 23). It is the failure of fictions such as “‘incentive,’ ‘preference,’ ‘supply curves,’ ‘utility,’ and ‘efficiency’” (p. 24) that have created the upheaval and imbalance in modern economies. What economics needs, therefore, and what is inherent in science fiction, is creativity. The insistence upon calling economics a science negates the value that fiction (read here as inventiveness) brings to the table. In large part, economics has abandoned its social science roots and now relies too much on data. In other words, it lacks imagination.
To support this position, the book is split into four sections. The first includes a series of four essays that coalesce around descriptions of how economics is portrayed in works of science fiction. The authors of these chapters variously tackle the basics of neoclassical economics (Chapter 1), corporate power (Chapter 2), money (Chapter 3), and automation (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 is particularly interesting for its excellent review of how corporations are portrayed in a wide array of classic science fiction stories.
The second section of the book, Chapters 6 to 9, explores examples of capitalism creating dystopia. The featured authors in this section shift from an expository approach to a narrative style. Unfortunately, the stylistic change does not help them illustrate the economics in their stories particularly well—at least not in the same sense that economists think about the subjects presented. Nor are the stories particularly interesting as stand-alone works of fiction. The one exception is Chapter 5, which provides an in-depth exploration of Marxian thoughts on extraction.
The third section, Chapters 10 to 13, focuses on how the design of an economy might help or hinder a society’s progress toward utopia. The authors featured in this section take very different approaches to their topics. Chapter 10 reflects on the evolution of housing in Soviet Russia, which is intriguing historically but seems oddly placed in a book on science fiction. Chapter 11, possibly the best chapter in the book, explores how designing and building megastructures (massive physical projects like the Egyptian pyramids) motivate stories in science fiction–based video games. Chapters 12 and 13 explore different techniques to evaluate pros and cons of novel economic systems.
Finally, the fourth section, Chapters 14 to 17, presents four short stories about how an economic idea can become a force for change at either a personal level or a global level. The idea may be a different way of organizing a village (Chapter 14). The idea may question why college students cannot have everything for free (Chapter 15). The idea may consider the plight of 19th-century Luddites and their struggles against technology (Chapter 16). Or, the idea may reimagine the function of money (Chapter 17). These inventive essays combine for a thought provoking and satisfying end to the book.
Overall, however, Economic Science Fictions seems to have difficulty finding its way. There is a lack of cohesion in the presentation and style. The one theme linking all of the chapters of the book together is its decidedly anticapitalism bias. Again and again the authors go out of their way to show how capitalism itself is at the root of the problems depicted in science fiction writing. Even the unique short stories presented in the book clearly peddle the “business is bad and can only bring about ruin and destruction” trope. The threat of corporations becoming not only too big to fail but also states unto themselves pervades science fiction literature. One worries that such a relentless negative drumbeat drowns out all the good corporations do in the real or science fiction world.
Perhaps part of the issue here is that very few of the authors are economists. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Certainly, economists can learn much from other disciplines. As noneconomists however, their attacks on modern economics rely on a heavy dose of Marxist utopianism, which has many of its own shortcomings. Rethinking what economics has to offer society is certainly a welcome discussion, but reliance on theories that have little support within the discipline dulls the argumentative power of the writers.
What is most disappointing, however, is this book could have been better and the results more informative had it taken one of two different approaches, each hinted at in the introduction. First, it might have focused on the ways in which science fiction has predicted or even spurred innovations in economic thinking. There are certainly visions of the future that can be considered economic successes. The original Star Trek stories (books, television episodes, and movies) exist in a universe where hunger is a foreign concept, money is no longer needed, transportation no longer pollutes (though if you ask Dr. McCoy, he would still say that it is madness to have your atoms scrambled in a transporter), and racial disharmony has been almost eradicated. Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End provides a fascinating look into future labor markets. Iain Bank’s Consider Phlebas provides an optimistic view of a world where material scarcity is no longer a concern. (I imagine that the authors of the current book would favor its leftist leanings.) Stories such as these and many others like them give readers a hint of how economic ideas can change societies for the better.
The second possibility is that Economic Science Fictions could have explored our current economic reality and all its curiosities. Considering where we are today compared with where we were just 100 years ago, it would be compelling to speculate about the trajectory our economic institutions might take. A few of the authors of chapters came very close to doing this, especially, when discussing how money is used in science fiction stories. Science fiction allows us to reconsider environmental policy, immigration practices, or labor markets while removing the political baggage of today’s realities. Unfortunately, that line of inquiry was also largely ignored.
Despite the persistent harping on the ills of capitalism, there are some inventive and stimulating chapters in this book. If you are expecting a well-rounded view of the links between economics and science fiction, however, you will be disappointed.