Speculation now means endorsing uncertainty as a tactic for social survival

Evidence

“To speculate” means increasingly “to connect,” to endorse uncertainty preemptively, and often tactically, as a means of social survival. At the same time, speculating is not just how we relate to the future (by anticipating and imagining it) but how we make it actionable in the present. Futures, securities, bonds—terms once repurposed for the market speculator’s lexicon—return to our everyday social and political vernacular to imbue it with finance’s own ambition. The narratives this new vernacular pursues are more open ended than those of “security” and “control.” If the only certainty in our present is that the future is uncertain, then shorting and hedging the unknowable becomes the zeitgeist of contemporary financialized societies. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 20

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of the book’s central concept: speculation as preemptive endorsement of uncertainty, oppositionally framed against ‘security’ and ‘control.’
• SHARE: The linguistic drift of ‘futures, securities, bonds’ from market lexicon into everyday vernacular is a perfect tidbit for a financial-linguistics hobbyist.
• XREF: connects to: Planned chance serves as an alibi for rationalized society — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 113; Impatience with capitalism’s future promises makes personal imagination increasingly speculative. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 45; Markets and populist publics may share a common yearning for uncertainty — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 65 (+6 more)