This week I sat with Dr. Joel Z Garrod, a sociologist based in Canada and author of a recently published article, "On the property of blockchains: comments on an emerging literature." The paper focuses on blockchain and property relations in connection to global property relations and the evolution of capitalism.
I really enjoyed the article because it really succinctly brings up the point that most current analyses of blockchain don't go deep enough and don’t seem to ask the right questions because they focus too much on what "could be" and not what is currently happening in the space. This leads to a lot of wrong conclusions, particularly from people who I’d probably agree with for the most part on other things. In his paper, Dr. Garrod takes a more materialistic approach when analyzing blockchain and it's potential to either be co-opted by neoliberalism or create something completely different.
During the interview we spoke about utopian capitalism, whether blockchain is a neoliberal project, and the history of contracts. The interview itself went pretty long so I've split it into two parts. You can expect part two to be published next week.
If you'd like to get a copy of the article you join the Crypto Leftists Discord group here where I posted a copy of the article since online it's under a paywall.
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ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.
The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.
