508 The Problem with..."Communes, Spinal Tap, and Seeing Like a State, Part 5"

Back in the day, all the cool kids were collectivizing farms, by force if necessary (it generally was). Did you know they were all High Modernists? James Scott tells the stories of Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Russia and their violent agricultural revolutions. The unfortunate meeting of capitalist and communist minds, united in the confidence of technocratic solutions, had immense the human cost, but led, inevitably, to legibility, and the reinforcement of the centralized state's position. Also, Spinal Tap for Sam, Stephen is mad about Grok, and Brevin's phone is going to explode. Have a listen!