1960 mouse utopia12/2/2023 Someone please give David Graeber a film review column now! In the end, Graeber does not claim to have a solution, but provides a necessary starting point for further discussions about the structure of our society and the future we may be heading to.Īs an added bonus, the fourth section of the book is a critique of Christopher Nolan's film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES as a subversive and possibly unconscious anti-occupy, pro-bureaucracy morality tale of sorts. With references as wide ranging as Post Office rules and their influence on the organization of the Soviet Union, the false promises of technological advancement and fulfillment, and the lessons to be learned from fantasy game systems such as Dungeons & Dragons, this book manages to pull everything together to form clear arguments both for and against certain bureaucracy. The book is divided into three essays, each focusing on a different aspect of the systems we take part in every day. In THE UTOPIA OF RULES, Graeber examines the evolution, reaction against, and current status quo acceptance of the paper mountains of bureaucracy in American society. Unlike many high profile intellectuals and activists, he also doesn't turn a blind eye from his current place in the system he often critiques and urges conversations about. Not only was he responsible for planning the Occupy Wall Street movement and coining the slogan, "We are the 99%," but Graeber is one of those rare academic writers who writes clearly and entertainingly. I want to nominate David Graeber as national treasure. As a result, this is gonna be another of my favs by this author. Nevertheless, among the lots of other things discussed in here I have (so far!) found almost no bones to pick (other than the above-mentioned, in passing) and several STELLAR discussions on the topics of comics, mass media, books, imagination and psychology: all under the anthropologic angle. Who stole it, now, raise my hand! All the people doing BS, ie: nice PPTs for other lazyabouts to stare at during some boring goddamn meetings and other design and trash and purposeless endeavours? WTF?Īlthough I don't care about the 'Occupy Wall Street' thing (since the idea so lame that it could have been developed only by someone who has no understanding whatsoever of the offending industry) or for the anarchy trend (just like the OWS thing it's extremely pointless and is for people who have nothing better to do with their time and who know nothing of the history - the anarchy of Russia in 1917, anyone willing to try that at home?) I'm not too sure I really want clones and the idea of time travel gives me migraines but the rest, I want it. □ all the other miracles things I was promised in all the sci-fi (including the Star Track!)? □ the era of space-travelling societies & □ clones & androids & their electric sheep & Provocative and timely, the book is a powerful look and history of bureaucracy over the ages and its power in shaping the world of ideas. Indeed, in our own “utopia of rules,” freedom and technological innovation are often the casualties of systems that we only faintly understand. But Graeber argues that there is a much darker side to modern bureaucracy that is rarely ever discussed. In some areas of life-like with the modern postal systems of Germany and France-these bureaucracies have brought tremendous efficiencies to modern life. He then jets forward to the nineteenth century, where systems we can easily recognize as modern bureaucracies come into being. He starts in the ancient world, looking at how early civilizations were organized and what traces early bureaucratic systems have left in the ethnographic literature. To answer these questions, anthropologist David Graeber-one of the most prominent and provocative thinkers working today-takes a journey through ancient and modern history to trace the peculiar and fascinating evolution of bureaucracy over the ages. Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling out forms?
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