In a very long, yet brilliant essay, David Graeber explores why the future that is now just doesn’t live up to the expectations people had for it back in the sixties and seventies. This anthropologist’s view on technological research and development of the past decades brings to light some intriguing explanations (innovation was pushed in the wrong fields, motivation faded after the Cold War, it’s bureaucracy’s fault, it’s capitalism’s fault…). Reading the article will take you an hour. Thinking about it will take longer. That’s proof it’s worth the time.

From Weekly Filet #74, in June 2012.