RECORDED ON MARCH 14th 2023. Dr. Raymond Craib is Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History at Cornell University. His research and teaching interests revolve around the intersections of space, politics, and everyday practice. He is the author of Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age.
In this episode, we focus on Adventure Capitalism. We talk about what characterizes libertarianism in the US, and how it became popular in the 1960s. We discuss exit projects, and how people planned to create new countries in places undergoing decolonization. We talk about contemporary Silicon Valley techno-libertarians. We discuss if capitalism can really operate without the state. Finally, we talk about how these projects might intersect with the history of twentieth-century capitalism.