The Cashless Storm
The war on cash isn't a conspiracy. It's capitalism
Dear Readers. I published a big long read called ‘Going Cashless’ in Aeon Magazine. It’s a deep dive into how to think about cashless society systemically, rather than falling into conspiracy theories. It delves into how the populist right is becoming active in the pro-cash debate, and how the fintech industry weaponizes that to label anyone who critiques digital payments as a bigoted nutjob. I’m a pro-cash campaigner, so this issue affects me personally every day. The piece features witch trials, the invisible hand, Russell Brand, Christian evangelists and even Kill Bill, and takes you on a journey through the complex political landscape of payments. I can’t reproduce the whole piece here, but below you’ll find a preview of the first 250 words. To read the full piece, please do visit Aeon via the link above.
Four centuries ago a woman named Else Knutsdatter was executed in Vardø, a small coastal town in Norway. She was accused of having used witchcraft to raise an ocean storm that claimed the lives of forty men. She wasn’t the only one to fall victim to 17th century folk who – in the absence of other explanations – could be convinced that disasters were conjured by malevolent sorcerers. Ninety others were executed for conspiring to produce the same storm.
Today we know that physics and atmospheric pressures produced those storms. So in the realm of weather we’ve moved to systemic thinking, where bad things don’t need to be explained with reference to bad actors. When it comes to descriptions of politics and economics, the progress is not so unequivocal. Do bad things like climate change, conflict and corporate greed happen because powerful politicians and CEOs construct it like that, or do they emerge in the vacuum of human agency, in the fact that nobody’s actually in control? This is a question that confronts me in the campaign to protect the physical cash system against the digital takeover by Big Finance and Tech.
For more than eight years, I’ve advocated for the protection and promotion of physical notes and coins. I published a book called Cloudmoney: Why the War on Cash Endangers Our Freedom. In that book, I point out that the public has swallowed a false just-so story that says we are pining for a cashless society. All over the world, public and private sector leaders claim that ‘our’ desire for speed, convenience, scale and interconnection drives an inevitable digital transition. This is supposed to bring a “frictionless” world of digital payment-fuelled commerce, done at the click of a button or scan of the iris. The message is keep up or else face being left behind…
To continue reading, find the rest of the article for free at Aeon Magazine here
Excellent article Brett!
Thank you. I'll reread the whole thing again. So much to think about in it and to reflect (and act!) on.
Really insightful article.
I feel that when such new systems and advancements are made, those who're unfairly and inconsiderately left behind as well as face a lot of hardship, are those from the lower socioeconomic classes, who don't have the financial means to adapt to such changes.