Electronic Payment Past and Speculative Futures

Christopher M. Kelty
Institute for Society and Genetics, Information Studies, Anthropology
UC Los Angeles

Leonard Kleinrock
Computer Science
UC Los Angeles

The UCLA Kleinrock Internet History Center held a conference on the histories and speculative futures of electronic payment systems. These systems encompass the technologies people use to store, order, and transfer money, built atop legacy monetary infrastructures such as cash and credit cards and ranging from e-commerce services to the cryptographic currencies of Bitcoin. Now is a critical time to focus humanistic inquiry on these systems, particularly in light of financial crises and debt, e-payment and mobile money, and privatization of payment transfer. The conference paired historians of the political and theoretical foundations of electronic payment infrastructures with science fiction authors and designers who envision what the future holds. This two-day event encouraged participation by a diverse mix of historians, practitioners, and science fiction authors who fostered broad discussions on, and public engagement with, the history, present hype, and future of electronic payment.Organized by Morgan Currie, Bradley Fidler, and Christopher Kelty, with a special thanks to Lana Swartz. Sponsored by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the UCLA Computer Science Department’s Kleinrock Center for Internet Studies, along with the NSF-Funded Participation Lab at the Institute of Society and Genetics, the Department of Information Studies, and the UCLA Law School’s Program on Understanding Law, Science and Evidence.