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Scott Ferguson is joined on the Superstructure podcast by Ruth E. Kastner, philosopher of physics and research associate at the University of Maryland. In their conversation, Ferguson and Kastner explore metaphysical resonances between Modern Monetary Theory\u2019s approach to money and Kastner\u2019s \u201cTransactional Interpretation\u201d of quantum physics.

Setting the stage for their dialog, Ferguson and Kastner critique orthodox commitments in both economics and physics to a pre-relational individuality: what medieval theologian John Duns Scotus famously called thisness or, \u201chaecceity.\u201d When being is contracted to mere haecceity, they argue, causality is reduced to local and unidirectional events in a manner that overlooks global conditions of possibility. In contrast, Ferguson and Kastner affirm an irreducibly relational ontology for monetary and quantum theory alike. This relational ontology comprises broader patterns of potential, which orthodox methods have rendered imperceptible. It also takes seriously non-local notions of causality, especially that unfamiliar all-at-onceness that Albert Einstein once derided as \u201cspooky action at a distance.\u201d\xa0

Along the way, Ferguson and Kastner consider a host of interdisciplinary analogies\u2013for example, between monetary receivability\xa0in heterodox economics and so-called \u201cabsorber waves\u201d in the Interaction Interpretation of quantum mechanics. At the same time, however, they remain careful not to collapse distinctions between political economy and quantum theory. Far from impractical navel gazing, such speculations harbor very real worldly consequences for interdisciplinary theory and practice.\xa0
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For more information, check out Kastner\u2019s website as well as her recent paper on \u201cQuantum Haecceity\u201d mentioned during the podcast.\xa0

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Music: \u201cYum\u201d from \u201cThis Would Be Funny If It Were Happening To Anyone But Me\u201d EP by flirting.

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