Taking Anglofuturism seriously – Soft Machines

Regular readers of this blog won’t need reminding that the UK is in a stagnant bind, with economic measures like productivity and GDP per person flatlining since the global financial crisis (or earlier). The consequences are felt well beyond these arid economic aggregates; wage growth has slowed down, successive governments find it hard to fund acceptable public services, and there’s a palpable sour sense of malaise in our politics. One interesting response to this has been the emergence of a loose constellation of commentators, activists and pressure groups, a techno-optimist movement calling for more houses to be built, for the barriers apparently stopping the country building infrastructure to be swept away, for cheaper and more abundant energy. Britain Remade wants to “reform the planning process to deliver more clean energy projects, transport infrastructure, and new good quality housing at speed”, while the yimby Alliance , as keen subscribers to the “Housing theory of everything

Regular readers of this blog won’t need reminding that the UK is in a stagnant bind, with economic measures like productivity and GDP per person flatlining since the global financial crisis (or earlier). The consequences are felt well beyond these arid economic aggregates; wage growth has slowed down, successive governments find it hard to fund acceptable public services, and there’s a palpable sour sense of malaise in our politics. One interesting response to this has been the emergence of a loose constellation of commentators, activists and pressure groups, a techno-optimist movement calling