Loosely based on the recent research of CUNY anthropologist Scott W. Schwartz, this hyperstitional interview surveys the role of temperature in developing and sustaining capitalist modes of social organization. From nascent forms of quantification in the 14th century to exascale computational models of the 22nd century, this conversation explores the epistemic and semiotic power of temperatures to reify the hypothetical world of capital in which wealth grows forever. Upon discovering a heterodox interpretation of the steam engine, this performance-interview slowly unravels into agitprop for a thermalist cult bent on liberating thermal fluctuations from the suppressive tyranny of quantified temperatures.
Originally performed for Montez Press Radio on May 25, 2020.