Martin Schürz

Schürz’s book project focuses on the concentration of wealth in the hands of tech billionaires, and their dreams of achieving immortality. Death is the great equalizer in an unequal world. Even for the richest, it puts a limit on an otherwise almost limitless life. Recently, however, tech billionaires have begun to question the inevitability of death. This is not a new endeavor. In the Soviet Union, the communists tried to fight death in a similar way in the 1920s. And for the Marxists Ernst Bloch and Theodor W. Adorno, a utopia worthy of the name had to include the abolition of death. Today the hyper-rich try to determine the content of utopia for the rest of us, evincing a narcissism which accepts no limits and no connection to other people. What are the economic and societal implications of this quest for longevity, and what kind of dystopia will result?

My time at the IWM will be dedicated to work on a book manuscript that discusses the manifold roles that emotions play in legitimizing the massive inequality of wealth that characterizes contemporary democracies. Emotions—either hidden or displayed openly—influence political and social discourses on wealth concentration. Charity and greed, envy and compassion, anger and shame all influence social perceptions of injustice. And some of these emotions stabilize existing levels of extreme wealth concentration.

My time at the IWM will be dedicated to work on a book manuscript that discusses the manifold roles that emotions play in legitimizing the massive inequality of wealth that characterizes contemporary democracies. Emotions–either hidden or displayed openly–influence political and social discourses on wealth concentration. Charity and greed, envy and compassion, anger and shame all influence social perceptions of injustice. And some of these emotions stabilize existing levels of extreme wealth concentration.