Homo speculans pursues connectivity and secular mythologies, not gratification

Evidence

Importantly, as we have seen from the outset, speculation cannot be considered as merely reflective of autotelic action (Stimilli 2017)—that is, as “speculating for its own sake.” Today’s economic and political subject—to which I will refer from here on as homo speculans—throws itself into the swirl of our speculative moment with the hope of connectivity. It seeks not mere instant gratification but new secular mythologies. This contingent link between present and future that sets the tenor of current financialized life orients homo speculans and in turn emboldens its distinct imagination. As political economy steers investment and labor toward a chaotic—yet immersive—present, the spirit of capitalism undergoes a qualitative change: from the entrepreneurial animus of risk-taking to the uncertainty-endorsing speculative imagination. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 79

Categorization

• DEFINE: The book’s named subject ‘homo speculans’ is defined here and contrasted with homo economicus.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated thesis that speculation migrated from trading to dating, politics, self-presentation.