The Tendency for the Accumulation of Capital to Accelerate

There is a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein but it could really have been said by anybody, and it goes something like this:

The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.

It would be whimsical if one of history's greatest physicists had said this. Unfortunately, he almost certainly didn't. That, however, doesn't mean it isn't true.

I mean, look at this big, beautiful line going up and tell me that compound interest isn't the most powerful force in the universe:

Here's another graph that shows a different but paradoxically identical compound interest:

And because all good things come in threes:

The common refrain that "it takes money to make money" is superficially true. After all, if you've got no money in the bank then your startup capital is zero. Thankfully I paid minimal attention in school - or at least enough to learn that anything multiplied by zero is zero. Compound growth only works if there is something to, well, compound.

The Holy Spirit, Accelerationism, and You

Growing up I would make the sign of the cross before bedtime, reciting the phrase: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." I never really understood what the "Holy Spirit" referred to, even after asking adults multiple times.

It was only after attending university and studying philosophy and theology that I began to grok the Holy Spirit, insofar as anybody can truly get the Divine.

I hope this isn't sacrilegious - and if so, may my grandparents (RIP) forgive me - but the way I see it, the Holy Spirit works through capital accumulation, in the same way that it works through population dynamics and the carbon cycle.

One of my favorite problematic philosophers is Nick Land. From his essay "Meltdown" (emphasis mine):

Capital is machinc (non-instrumental) globalization-miniaturization scaling dilation: an automatizing nihilist vortex, neutralizing all values through commensuration to digitized commerce, and driving a migration from despotic command to cyber-sensitive control: from status and meaning to money and information. Its function and formation are indissociable, comprising a teleonomy. Machine-code-capital recycles itself through its axiomatic of consumer control, laundering-out the shit- and blood-stains of primitive accumulation. Each part of the system encourages maximal sumptuous expenditure, whilst the system as a whole requires its inhibition. Schizophrenia. Dissociated consumers destine themselves as worker-bodies to cost control.

All those amphetamines really made Land a decadent writer. Reading between the word salad, Land is saying that the paradox of consumption and accumulation lie at the heart of capitalism. Its machinic, inhuman nature is algorithmic. It is supernatural and possessed, a force distinct from our species that propels itself through time with our blood, sweat and tears. Its appetite is ravenous and thus insatiable. The accumulation forever requires continuous production and consumption. Compound interest only works so long as the interest is added to the principal.

What in the Sam Hill is this boy on about? I'm glad you asked, because what it has to do with is you.

You make the line go up. I make the line go up. We all make the line go up. The Holy Spirit lives in each of us, and as far as I can tell, compels us to increase GDP.

Line Go Up

The law of compound growth is much like the law of large numbers: a fact of life. Power, wealth, and atmospheric carbon dioxide all accumulate at ever greater rates so long as the source of their accumulation is uninterrupted.

On the flip side, what goes up must come down. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Trees don't grow to the sky.

I know this is all very obtuse. I'm sorry, I can't help myself.