colin_cox's review against another edition
5.0
The last twenty-five years or so have given us several inflection points. Many of these moments border on the Badiouian event. When I use language like "inflection point," I want to gesture to potential's potential or the potential of potential. These moments create an opportunity for all of us to fundamentally re-envision the way the world works. The most recent of these inflection points is the COVID-19 pandemic. In some respects, the larger ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic remain in flux. But for far too many countries, it appears like things will return to business as usual, which means unfettered capitalism, wage exploitation, and environmental degradation (to name a few). But what if we used an inflection point like COVID-19 to move in a different direction? What if a new order emerged? Or, at the very least, what if we had access to other universes that effectively used one of these inflection points to make the world a better, more equitable place? These are the sorts of questions Yanis Varoufakis's Another Now interrogates.
Formally, Another Now reads like Plato's Republic and Sarte's No Exit. A hyper-paranoid tech savant, Costa accidentally creates a machine that opens pockets to other universes. The one that intrigues him the most is a universe that diverged from ours after the 2008 financial crisis. After the 2008 financial crisis, this other world (i.e., "The Other Now") implemented socialist policies that eventually eliminated capitalism as the economic and philosophical custom. But what is fascinating about Another Now is how it simultaneously endorses the policies and moves of The Other Now while also suggesting socialism or socialist policies that maintain capitalism's market logic is doomed to fail and cannot deliver true emancipation. Varoufakis is quite clear about how these partial measures operate as failures. For example, one of the novel's dialogic interlocutors, Iris, claims, "I prefer...to stay in Our horrid Now than live in a much better version of it that only makes the prospect of a Star Trek communism feel further away" (218). This point follows Slavoj Žižek's logic about slavery in the antebellum South. He says, "The worst slave owners were those that were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the core of the system being realized by those who suffered from it." Like Iris, Žižek wants a world with less dehumanization and suffering, but as these quotes illustrate, partial, non-radical measures that do little to fundamentally change unjust systems extend, to some degree, the life of those systems.
Iris further crystallizes her critique of the Other Now when she claims, "I am, I admit, fascinated, impressed, awestruck even, by what the OC rebels have achieved in the Other Now, particularly the democratization of corporations, money, land ownership and markets. Except that democratized markets still prioritize the transactional quid pro quo mentality that undermines the sovereignty of good and, ultimately, our fundamental well-being. Democratized market societies, freed from capitalism, are infinitely preferable to what we have here, except for one crucial thing: they entrench exchange value and thereby, I fear, make impossible a genuine revolution that leads to the final toppling of markets" (218-219). But the mesmerizing thing Iris says punctuates this monologue and demonstrates Varoufakis's commitment to Hegelian thought. Iris ends her monologue and says, "anyone who believes that happiness lies elsewhere is a fool" (219). This is a point Todd McGowan echoes when he claims that Belinda Carlise is perhaps the most Hegelian pop star. In her 1987 hit, "Heaven is a Place on Earth," Carlise says, "We'll make heaven a place on earth / Ooh, heaven is a place on Earth." The transcendent beyond is possible in so far as we think and materialize it here and now instead of imagining it in some fantastical, non-lacking elsewhere.
Ultimately, Varoufakis's Another Now provokes its reader to ask two important questions: Can we transcend capitalism? And, are we courageous enough to transcend capitalism? But Varoufakis wants his reader to remain suspicious of any capitalist alternatives that refuse to go far enough. In short, don't mistake any alternative to capitalism as the alternative to capitalism.
Formally, Another Now reads like Plato's Republic and Sarte's No Exit. A hyper-paranoid tech savant, Costa accidentally creates a machine that opens pockets to other universes. The one that intrigues him the most is a universe that diverged from ours after the 2008 financial crisis. After the 2008 financial crisis, this other world (i.e., "The Other Now") implemented socialist policies that eventually eliminated capitalism as the economic and philosophical custom. But what is fascinating about Another Now is how it simultaneously endorses the policies and moves of The Other Now while also suggesting socialism or socialist policies that maintain capitalism's market logic is doomed to fail and cannot deliver true emancipation. Varoufakis is quite clear about how these partial measures operate as failures. For example, one of the novel's dialogic interlocutors, Iris, claims, "I prefer...to stay in Our horrid Now than live in a much better version of it that only makes the prospect of a Star Trek communism feel further away" (218). This point follows Slavoj Žižek's logic about slavery in the antebellum South. He says, "The worst slave owners were those that were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the core of the system being realized by those who suffered from it." Like Iris, Žižek wants a world with less dehumanization and suffering, but as these quotes illustrate, partial, non-radical measures that do little to fundamentally change unjust systems extend, to some degree, the life of those systems.
Iris further crystallizes her critique of the Other Now when she claims, "I am, I admit, fascinated, impressed, awestruck even, by what the OC rebels have achieved in the Other Now, particularly the democratization of corporations, money, land ownership and markets. Except that democratized markets still prioritize the transactional quid pro quo mentality that undermines the sovereignty of good and, ultimately, our fundamental well-being. Democratized market societies, freed from capitalism, are infinitely preferable to what we have here, except for one crucial thing: they entrench exchange value and thereby, I fear, make impossible a genuine revolution that leads to the final toppling of markets" (218-219). But the mesmerizing thing Iris says punctuates this monologue and demonstrates Varoufakis's commitment to Hegelian thought. Iris ends her monologue and says, "anyone who believes that happiness lies elsewhere is a fool" (219). This is a point Todd McGowan echoes when he claims that Belinda Carlise is perhaps the most Hegelian pop star. In her 1987 hit, "Heaven is a Place on Earth," Carlise says, "We'll make heaven a place on earth / Ooh, heaven is a place on Earth." The transcendent beyond is possible in so far as we think and materialize it here and now instead of imagining it in some fantastical, non-lacking elsewhere.
Ultimately, Varoufakis's Another Now provokes its reader to ask two important questions: Can we transcend capitalism? And, are we courageous enough to transcend capitalism? But Varoufakis wants his reader to remain suspicious of any capitalist alternatives that refuse to go far enough. In short, don't mistake any alternative to capitalism as the alternative to capitalism.
jiyoung's review against another edition
3.0
The “Other Now” is an alternate universe that forked from “Our Now” in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In this Other Now, banks weren’t bailed out but instead made to fail, and post-capitalistic organizations sprouted in their place to give individuals greater equality, equity, and dignity in society. This book is essentially a thought exercise of how the world could work with an alternative to capitalism. It was interesting to see Varoufakis’s musings on how enterprise, money, and society could function outside of the directive to capture rent and maximize profits for the select few.
My gripes were really in the structure of the book. I was fully expecting this to be a novel wherein we’d be shown these new institutions in organic worldbuilding. Unfortunately the characters do a LOT of telling, not showing. It’s less a novel than a detailed manifesto delivered by characters that have names and a pet ideology and not much more. I also felt like a lot of his thought experiments required a little too much suspension of disbelief re: human nature and individual greed (e.g., you’re not going to get companies like Amazon to crumble bc the world boycotted for a day, nor are you going to convince that many people to boycott in the first place).
My gripes were really in the structure of the book. I was fully expecting this to be a novel wherein we’d be shown these new institutions in organic worldbuilding. Unfortunately the characters do a LOT of telling, not showing. It’s less a novel than a detailed manifesto delivered by characters that have names and a pet ideology and not much more. I also felt like a lot of his thought experiments required a little too much suspension of disbelief re: human nature and individual greed (e.g., you’re not going to get companies like Amazon to crumble bc the world boycotted for a day, nor are you going to convince that many people to boycott in the first place).
ajlevy01's review against another edition
5.0
Not so much a novel as a philosophical discourse, this book provides a clear, cogent future which the author postulates would have been a better way out of the GFC than the path capitalism ended up taking. The dialogues are eloquently written, the characters are believable and flawed, and the scenarios in which they find themselves are oh-so-real.
As a vision of "another now", it is at once optimistic, in that it provides clear solutions to the inequities facing our societies today which the author plots as developling from our very own existence and pessimistic, as its utopian future never has never felt so far away from us.
Not only does Varoufakis present his own ideal for a "post-capitalist" economic model, he clearly concedes the flaws in his own system via structuring the book as a conversation between friends with different worldviews and argues that his vision would still be preferable to our debt-ridden, fossil-fuel-burning society.
A compelling answer to the question "what happens the morning after the revolution" from a writer with clear economic and political bona fides. A must read for anyone who looks around at the current world and thinks this is the best we can do.
As a vision of "another now", it is at once optimistic, in that it provides clear solutions to the inequities facing our societies today which the author plots as developling from our very own existence and pessimistic, as its utopian future never has never felt so far away from us.
Not only does Varoufakis present his own ideal for a "post-capitalist" economic model, he clearly concedes the flaws in his own system via structuring the book as a conversation between friends with different worldviews and argues that his vision would still be preferable to our debt-ridden, fossil-fuel-burning society.
A compelling answer to the question "what happens the morning after the revolution" from a writer with clear economic and political bona fides. A must read for anyone who looks around at the current world and thinks this is the best we can do.
lilaklara's review against another edition
3.0
I was pleasantly surprised by the style in which this book was written; as I'd only read Talking to My Daughter and seen a couple of Varoufakis' interviews and talks prior to reading this I was expecting it to be an essay collection or something along those lines. instead he uses a sci-fi (adjacent) story as a framework to explore this 'Other Now' - the plot follows a character who accidentally opens up a wormhole into an alternate universe (in which the system was completely overthrown and reworked post 2008 financial crisis) and is able to communicate with himself in the Other Now. this worked for me because it allows you to just proceed on the assumption that this is a functioning society rather than something that is being hypothesised and so Varoufakis' ideas come across more cohesively. he has a lot of interesting propositions and although it could be very technical at times it was fascinating to read about a fully-conceptualised system that is wholly anti-capitalist. could be a little self-congratulatory at times but definitely an interesting read overall.
rosekk's review against another edition
3.0
I really don't know what to make of this. I don't know what it's supposed to be. A sketch of a viable replacement for capitalism? But it doesn't offer enough detail or answer enough questions for that. A call to arms? But the description of how capitalism is overthrown in the Other Now isn't clear enough (and is possibly too optimistic) to be useful as a 'how to'. Perhaps this is just meant to be an exercise in keeping ones mind open and considering the possibilities of a world without capitalism. I suppose it manages that.
There are some creative economic ideas (I don't know achievable they are, but they sound plausible on the face of it). I think I was hoping for a little more; the question on the back of the book ('What would a fair and equal society look like?') made me think the text would actually seek to depict a fair and equal society, and perhaps sketch out an idea of how to achieve it. The book doesn't do that, and it stops pretending to quite quickly; the 'other now' it talks of shows some improvement on our world in some ways, but the text admits its still subject to plenty of issues. I guess I was hoping to read the book and find ideas to be enthused about and inspired by, and I'm disappointed because I best I feel a cautious curiosity about some of the suggestions offered.
I'm also not entirely sure why it was written the way it was. It's fictionalised, presented mostly as discussions between characters, but it doesn't do very much with the freedom a fictional tale brings (I've seen sci-fi stories do a lot more in terms of reimagining society, either as a critique of our one or as offering an alternative). While it's more engaging than some political books I've read (though not all), it's still relatively dry when compared with much speculative fiction, so I don't think the style used makes it any more approachable or appealing to a wider audience.
I find it hard to judge the book because I'm not sure what it was trying to do, so I can't tell if it succeeded. It fell short of my expectations, but I don't know if that's simply because I was asking too much.
There are some creative economic ideas (I don't know achievable they are, but they sound plausible on the face of it). I think I was hoping for a little more; the question on the back of the book ('What would a fair and equal society look like?') made me think the text would actually seek to depict a fair and equal society, and perhaps sketch out an idea of how to achieve it. The book doesn't do that, and it stops pretending to quite quickly; the 'other now' it talks of shows some improvement on our world in some ways, but the text admits its still subject to plenty of issues. I guess I was hoping to read the book and find ideas to be enthused about and inspired by, and I'm disappointed because I best I feel a cautious curiosity about some of the suggestions offered.
I'm also not entirely sure why it was written the way it was. It's fictionalised, presented mostly as discussions between characters, but it doesn't do very much with the freedom a fictional tale brings (I've seen sci-fi stories do a lot more in terms of reimagining society, either as a critique of our one or as offering an alternative). While it's more engaging than some political books I've read (though not all), it's still relatively dry when compared with much speculative fiction, so I don't think the style used makes it any more approachable or appealing to a wider audience.
I find it hard to judge the book because I'm not sure what it was trying to do, so I can't tell if it succeeded. It fell short of my expectations, but I don't know if that's simply because I was asking too much.
stormy_reading's review
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
paolo_di_anversa's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
edulaia's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I kept thinking that reading this book now must be the closest we will come to feeling like the first readers of Thomas Moore's Utopia after that one's publication. The ideas were interesting, the awareness of the genre was obviously there but, and that is a feature of the utopian genre, not a bug - the book lost itself a bit in the details of the description of the Other Now and lost the narrative momentum.
The ideas that Varoufakis presents are very interesting though and he really knows what he is doing when arguing them, which is, for me, reason enough to enjoy his writing.
The ideas that Varoufakis presents are very interesting though and he really knows what he is doing when arguing them, which is, for me, reason enough to enjoy his writing.
paulataua's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating read! At its best when exposing all the failures of capitalism, and inventive when producing an alternative informed by both Marxist and Anarchist theory. Throwing yourself into it and listening closely to the various arguments is definitely recommended for anyone in the process of trying to forge a workable alternative to things as they are now. Lots of goodies here even if I didn’t think he had a good understanding of power and had a rather static conception of human nature. Get your copy today!
mishnah's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Writing a big 19th century novel of philosophy and utopian ideas is hard!! and this almost gets there but ultimately lands in a clunky, uncanny-valley like spot — not quite a novel, but not quite a manifesto either.