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The Worst Is Yet to Come: A Post-Capitalist Survival Guide

Peter Fleming

3.68 · Rating details · 104 ratings · 19 reviews

Capitalism is about to commit suicide and is threatening to take us down with it. But will it give way to a grand social utopia or the beginning of a new dark age... albeit WiFi enabled?

The Worst is Yet to Come explores the disturbing possibility that the current crisis of neoliberal capitalism isn’t going to spawn an emancipatory renaissance, but a world that is much, muc ...more

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Published January 15th 2019 by Repeater (first published 2019)

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Oct 07, 2020 بثينة العيسى rated it really liked it · review of another edition

في "الأسوأ لم يأتِ بعد" يتحدث پيتر فليمنغ عن نشوء مصطلح "رأس المال البشري" الذي مهد آدم سميث لظهوره. المصلطح يفترض تصورًا مثاليًا واختزاليًا عن الإنسان؛ فهو يحب الربح ويكره الخسارة، مثل آلة منطقية تمشي على قدمين.

منذ البداية افترض منظروا الرأسمالية بأن مبادئ الرأسمالية متوافقة مع الطبيعة البشرية. إلا أن الواقع يضج بظواهر اجتماعية ونفسية (سيب الاقتصادية على جنب) تنقض تمامًا هذه الفكرة؛ الفردية المتوحشة، الوحدة المزمنة، الانفصال عن الطبيعة، ضياع القيم، السقوط في اللا معنى، القلق والاكتئاب.. هذه كله في "الأسوأ لم يأتِ بعد" يتحدث پيتر فليمنغ عن نشوء مصطلح "رأس المال البشري" الذي مهد آدم سميث لظهوره. المصلطح يفترض تصورًا مثاليًا واختزاليًا عن الإنسان؛ فهو يحب الربح ويكره الخسارة، مثل آلة منطقية تمشي على قدمين.

منذ البداية افترض منظروا الرأسمالية بأن مبادئ الرأسمالية متوافقة مع الطبيعة البشرية. إلا أن الواقع يضج بظواهر اجتماعية ونفسية (سيب الاقتصادية على جنب) تنقض تمامًا هذه الفكرة؛ الفردية المتوحشة، الوحدة المزمنة، الانفصال عن الطبيعة، ضياع القيم، السقوط في اللا معنى، القلق والاكتئاب.. هذه كلها وإلى حدٍ بعيد من مخرجات الآلة الرأسمالية.

إن هذا هو ما يبدو عليه واقعنا، وأستطيع القول بأنني وجدت نفسي في أكثر الأسطر الواردة في الكتاب. لكن ما لم يقله فليمنغ هو أن مأساة أن "يصبح المرء وظيفته" بكل ما يتبعها من أمراض، توجد أيضًا وبغزارة في ظل الأنظمة الشيوعية.

أحببت ما كتبه فليمنغ لأنه ينضج بالذكاء وخفة الظل والسوداوية (لا أدري لماذا استلطفت هذه السوداوية) فيما يتعلق بالمستقبل، لكنك تخرج من الكتاب مهزوما لأن الآلة الرأسمالية أصبحت واقعا، وليست فكرة، ولا يمكن دحضها بفكرة، والبدائل التي يقدمها فليمنغ تتراوح بين الشّعر والمزاح. أي أنني ما زلتُ أنتظر كتابا يكون دليلًا فعليا للنجاة، ومع ذلك، كانت قراءته منعشة ومثل ما نقول بالكويتي؛ "تبرّد القلب".

شكرا محمد جمال على الترجمة البطلة. ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Derek James Baldwin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not a bad book by any means but rather slight. Lots of interesting ideas are thrown around, never explored in any depth, and when the author mentions near the end that it was mostly written in three weeks I can’t pretend to have been surprised except, perhaps, “wow, that long”. One of the most disappointing aspects is how the notes so often reference some Guardian article, itself no doubt a lightly rewritten press release or one of those “why oh why... but... social justice is great, and we all ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: economics, sociology, 2019

The Worst Is Yet To Come is another entry in the long line of books analysing (and in some cases celebrating) the end of neoliberal capitalism. Peter Fleming takes a different angle on this to many writers, suggesting that rather than being optimistic about what the future will bring (in that the collapse of capitalism will lead to the fruition of the long standing socialist project in the form of Fully Automated Luxury Capitalism), a form of aggressive pessimism is a more rational response.

Part ...more

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Jan 17, 2021 مصطفى منير rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

ده كتاب الشّهر بالنّسبة لي الحقيقة.
أنا أحب جدا الكتب إللي من النّوعية دي؛ هحطلك مشكلة في إطار سردي جميل، فمتزهقش مني أبدًا.
والصّراحة الرّجل عمل إللي عليه وزيادة، والتّرجمة محترفة ومحمد جمال أبدع في نقل روح النّص.
نوعية الكتب زي الأسوأ لم يأت بعد، إنها يتديك مناعة ضد الصّدمات، وبتخلّيك تفكّر في كيفية البحث عن الحلول، وتبقى سابق بخطوة لو في يوم حصل في دايرتك إللي بيقول عليها بيتر.
يمكن أحلى فصل بالنسبة لي كان فصل الرّوبوتات، وعجبني جدًا إنه كان بيعرض المشكلة وبيقدم الحلو في نقاط مع التّأكيد على ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Javi rated it really liked it

Aún con sus limitaciones, ha sido un curso intensivo en el estado actual del sistema económico y las raíces que han penetrado en la forma de pensar del ciudadano actual. Bien cargado de anotaciones, conciso y con un tono de humor negro que le viene al pelo. Eso sí, los consejos que dan se quedan un poquito cortos si querías algo para escapar del caos post-capitalista pero si tuviéramos la solución ya la estaríamos aplicando.

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Jul 28, 2020 Gabriel rated it really liked it

Un poco de lectura auto complaciente y una linda patada en la boca a los tecno optimistas. A ver cuánto de este libro se confirma como cierto en 10 años (predicción: 90%).

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Feb 18, 2019 Özgür Çakmak rated it it was amazing

This is a very interesting book with analysis about our current mad times and offers a framework for surviving it. I especially like the voice of the book, humorous yet underlining the horror behind whatever is discussed and they are horrible.

A must read.

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Mar 18, 2019 Bill Williams rated it really liked it

The Worst Is Yet to Come: A Post-Capitalist Survival Guide is a well-written takedown of capitalism.

Among other things, capitalism is described as a cult which could not be complete without Cold War boogey-men like Reagan and Thatcher and a new one, Jordan Peterson getting name dropped.

The text has wonderfully sinister terms like ‘Digitopia’ and ‘Fiscal Violence’ and ‘White Corporate Patriarchy’ and ‘Blade-Runner Capitalism’. This Post Capitalist Dystopia concludes that ‘the present is not worth ...more

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Dec 14, 2020 simran singh rated it it was ok

This book is about "post capitalism", examining the thesis that we have outlived our dominant economic system and that we are transitioning into something else. We do not know what that "something else" would be. Some features of a post-capitalistic world that are emerging realities are horrible inequality, ethno-nationalism, and environmental catastrophe. Fleming structured this book as a survival guide for "fetid futures" that might emerge out of capitalism's rubble. This book's pessimistic st This book is about "post capitalism", examining the thesis that we have outlived our dominant economic system and that we are transitioning into something else. We do not know what that "something else" would be. Some features of a post-capitalistic world that are emerging realities are horrible inequality, ethno-nationalism, and environmental catastrophe. Fleming structured this book as a survival guide for "fetid futures" that might emerge out of capitalism's rubble. This book's pessimistic stance is hard to swallow and sometimes imitates the corrosive cynicism found in alt right accelerationism but laying out a critical framework for thinking about such catastrophes, he provides a valuable thought exercise that deserves to be pursued with more intellectual, serious firepower. Fleming addresses each feature of post capitalism across nine theme-specific chapters. Each chapter is introduced through a personal anecdote and ends with a "set of tips"- this move from personal to universal is consistent across all chapters, almost reminiscent of moral fables in school time. Our global swathe of pop culture usually depicts technological future as idyllic, utopian; technological innovations seeming to bring about empowering, emancipatory social change. This historical pattern has had an ironic effect of encouraging further consumption and an almost metaphorical absorption into the blackhole of "online existence" while furthering dissuasion of revolutionary activity. As a society, should we believe the techno-utopian promise of subverting/enhancing current systems through technology? Fleming's answer, in a chapter called Shitty Robots, is a remarkable "no". There are numerous examples backed up with data and background mechanics of industries to support his claims and frameworks. He intends to warn readers of how unprepared the capitalist class is to handle the imminent catastrophes of the future. He takes aim at the optimism arguing that optimism will not be tactfully useful in surviving a post-capitalistic world. In the book's second chapter, "Optimism in the Drone Age", he outlines how optimism has been co-opted by capitalism to manufacture consent in a period of increasing violence and instability. The pervasive rot effecting society is remarkably exemplified by Waldheim affair, an anecdote about how a series of events leads to a former Nazi officer becoming the General Secretary of United Nations. There are other ambiguous messages and anecdotes (such as the one involving veganism) that induces doubt over author's credibility. Even as I am personally disappointed because the philosophical core (radical hopelessness / revolutionary pessimism) is substantially promising, the book in its entirety is fluffy, intellectually non-serious and a gloomy short read. It seems to me that the author sacrificed intellectual curiosity (and possibly finding solutions) to gain more accessibility.

Moonlighting as memoir, philosophical critique and practical survival guide while committing to none seriously, "The Worst Is Yet to Come" may seem insightful and interesting to the uninitiated and in places is a bitingly humorous book.

(Not recommended if you have read Mark Fisher already, most ideas here seem to be built on Mark's foundations and reading this might be colossal waste of time then.) ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Hannah rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

A pretty good book for those like me who are just starting out at reading about this kind of subject matter. Fleming combines theory (a lot of Mark Fisher) along with statistics and Guardian articles (disappointing) to flesh out his idea of "radical hopelessness" all the while working very hard to make the book accessible to a general audience, an audience that I am not sure the book has actually reached. Radical hopelessness is interesting to me and although accessibility is important when writ ...more

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Aug 06, 2019 Lawrence rated it it was ok

Shelves: fun

I wish I'd read more reviews here before starting this book -- as others have said, it's ultimately kind of.. flimsy. In my case it really suffered from the fact that I read it directly alongside a dense theoretical monograph on capitalism that was literally three times as long: in comparison, this book felt like a panicked list of bullet points, rather than a sustained thought. I also might not have been the right audience just because I *am* already, you know, reading monographs about capitali ...more

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Feb 20, 2019 Stratos Moustakas rated it liked it

I needed a little extra from this book. The philosophical core (radical hopelessness / revolutionary pessimism) is promising but barely introduced. What remains is too much equivocation, frankly. I am after the author’s own heart and trust he elaborates elsewhere, but he’s burying his own survival tips. Nevertheless it’s a good summary of the challenges that increasingly raise the difficulty in level 21c+ human survival to Extra Hardcore levels. A frenetic tract through and through, a compressed ...more

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Oct 26, 2020 nis rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

Which book will break the three-star streak? Stay tuned to find out

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Mar 10, 2019 Nigel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

We're doomed. ...more

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Dec 15, 2019 Ross Wermert rated it it was amazing

Excellent short book.

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May 13, 2019 Cynthia Parker rated it really liked it

Depressing but well thought out

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May 15, 2019 Ben Handshue rated it really liked it

Very interesting. It combines Street Fight radio and Majority Report laced with Capitalist realism dashed with office space in book form. Glossary at the back is excellent companion.

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