In the face of th is assessment of afairs and for want of a political economy o f speed and not just of the wealth of nati ons, the 'speed box' (gearbox) of tech nical progress will go into automatic mode and the stock market crash b rought on by speculation wi l l end, sooner o r l ater, i n the crash of all job production. The futurism of the i nstant requi res it and will fo rce i t to morrow on the generations to come.
H ERE is no more . Everyth ing is NOW, and the HIC ET NUNC of days gone by is about to disappear completely from the ho rizon of history. In his recent vade-mecum, French public i ntellectual , econom i st, banker and top-tier consultant, J acques Attali recommends 'living every moment to the h i l t as tho ugh i t was the l ast'. Attali even goes as far as declaring that, 'Si nce time is the only really rare co m mo d ity, it i s now the only one worth being saved.' That is why, he reckons, it is urgent 'to focus on every i nstant ' . 1
THE GREAT ACCELERATOR
I Jacques Attali, Survivre aux crises. Paris: rayard, 2009.
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