Introduction

This site develops a materialist framework for analysing social systems and economic instability through the interaction between labour reproduction and market allocation.

The Rational Lifter

Welcome to therationallifter.xyz.

The name probably needs a short explanation.

Two of my long-standing interests are analytical thinking and lifting. In Haskell, oddly enough, it is possible to do both. On this website, however, the lifting is mostly intellectual.

The goal of this project is to work through a set of ideas about materialism, social systems, and economic dynamics as rigorously as I can manage outside of an academic setting. I hope the tone comes across as careful rather than unsympathetic, though I am aware that the attempt to be precise can sometimes read as blunt.

I am not an academic. My formal background is a bachelor’s degree and a PGCE. But many of the ideas explored here have been developing slowly over a long period of time — in some cases decades. At various points I considered writing parts of this work as a thesis or a book. In practice I often ended up with fragments: outlines, partial essays, and half-finished arguments.

This website is simply an attempt to gather those ideas together in one place.

The project is divided into two broad parts:

• Framework essays, which attempt to develop a more rigorous analytical structure.
• Commentary essays, which explore the political or heuristic implications of that framework.

The economic framework also develops Surplus Pressure Theory, which attempts to explain instability in capitalist economies through the interaction between labour reproduction and market allocation.

One important caveat should be made up front.

Under the principles of Constraint-First Material Ontology (CFMO) — the methodological framework used throughout this project — most of the economic theory presented here cannot be considered proven. I do not currently possess the empirical evidence required to pass what CFMO calls Gate B. It would be hubris to claim otherwise.

At best, these essays should be read as an attempt to construct a coherent explanatory model that could, in principle, be tested. The theory is presented as a falsifiable model rather than a settled doctrine.

But given the current state of economic debate — where many competing explanations exist and no single framework commands universal agreement — it seemed worthwhile, at least for myself, to assemble my own thinking in one place.

Material Analysis

This project develops a materialist framework for analysing social systems, institutions, and economic dynamics.

It begins with a philosophical method — Constraint-First Material Ontology (CFMO) — and applies it to sociology, political analysis, and economics.

The aim is not to defend a political tribe, but to develop explanations that remain grounded in observable constraints, reproducible patterns, and institutional consequences.

How to Read This Site

This project can be approached in two different ways depending on what you are interested in: Commentary or Framework.

Commentary

These essays introduce the political and conceptual motivations behind the framework.

They are written to be readable without prior knowledge of the theory and can be read independently of the technical sections.

• I Am A Socialist
• I Am Not A Communist
• The Perpetual Commodity Machine
• Genesis of Price
• Money, MMT, and the Limits of Monetary Sovereignty

Framework

The framework develops the underlying theory step by step.

It begins with philosophy, moves into sociology, and then builds an economic model explaining instability and coordination in modern economies.

1. Constraint-First Material Ontology (CFMO)
2. Sociological Emergence
3. Morality
4. Gender
5. Masculinity

Economic framework:

6. Economic Introduction
7. What Is An Economy
8. Reproduction and Surplus
9. Value and Price
10. Surplus Pressure Theory
11. Boom–Bust–Stagnation Dynamics
12. Empirical Indicators
13. Coordination and Information

Conceptual Overview

The framework develops in stages:

CFMO → Sociology → Moral Coordination → Economic Structure → Surplus Pressure Theory.