[Do check out our extensive bibliographies for more readings.]
Whether you are trying to make sense of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or smart contracts, it could be difficult to relate them to larger structural transformations of society. How does one develop a long durée perspective so as to avoid falling into the trap of what some historians have called “epochalism” – the idea that our epoch is truly unique and revolutionary, along with all of its technologies?
The number of possible entry points into the crypto topic is infinite. We have chosen to highlight some and to downplay others. This being a living and breathing list of recommendations, we'll be revising our pointers as time goes by. They are meant to be neither exhaustive nor neutral; all the blame for forcing you to discover this knowledge rests with our chief curator, Evgeny Morozov.
SOCIAL
II. Depoliticisation
III. Calculability
ECONOMIC
II. Financialisation
III. Decentralisation
TECHNOLOGICAL
I. Geopolitics
II. Big tech
III. Utopianism
Each of the pages also contains a link to more formal bibliographies and lists. We do feature a short essay to orient our readers in this massive pile of literature first.