In this article the ways in which philosophers have thought about greed are discussed. From antiquity until the Renaissance greed was considered to be a sin. This immoderate desire had to be stopped because it constitutes a threat to the wellbeing of both an individual and society as a whole. This changed since the beginning of the modern era, when a more positive attitude towards this excessive desire arose. The new opinion was: private vices lead to public benefits, and thus the normalization of an excess came about. Greed no longer was considered to be a sin or vice, but instead to be a harmless passion that had a good effect on the welfare of society. The financial crisis of 2008 may have induced some doubts concerning the idea that greed is good, but a real change in opinion has not yet occurred.

This article describes and judges the complex and often contradictory dynamic by which boundaries are constructed and transgressed. This dynamic reveals much about power, meaning, and the political economy of crime and control. The author describes the project undertaken by Critical Mass riders and precarity activists. These projects explore the possibilities of drift as collective experience and collective transgression. The pervasiveness of drift in contemporary society, paired with the subversive cultures of drift emerging around new social movements and alternative spatial practices, point toward a new kind of global collectivity.