The Great Transformation by Carl Polanyi

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Carl Polanyi's The Great Transformation is a brilliant book, says Danny Roderick. But there are two things that are fuzzy in it: his ideal alternative and how society reacts to the market. I think trying to create a better society is really going to force us to look at this much more specifically than a Polanyian framework would allow us to do," he adds.

The one concept most valuable for understanding the news today might be Henry Farrell’s theory of weaponized interdependence. Whether it’s China’s influence over the NBA, the US ban of Huawei, or whether social media should be regulated on a global scale, Henry Farrell has played a key role articulating how global economic networks can enable state coercion.

Tyler and Henry discuss these issues and more, including what a big tech breakup would mean for security and privacy, why political economics suggests Facebook’s Oversight Board won’t work, what Italy might reveal about China’s future, his family connection to Joyce, his undying affection for My Bloody Valentine, why Philip K. Dick would have reveled in QAnon, why Twitter seems left-wing, and being a first generation academic blogger.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded October 7th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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