Technofeudalism

I'm a leftist. Sometimes I jokingly say that on the political spectrum you can find me on Karl Marx's left flank. Today, as a leftist, I'm here to let you know that we're too late to fulfill our leftist dream of defeating capitalism, because capitalism has already defeated itself...

Well, that's good then, you might think. But it's not. Capitalism has gradually been replaced with something worse, at least according to Yanis Varoufakis, a left-wing Greek economist and politician who has served as Minister of Finance from January to July 2015 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece. The below linked video is part of a conversation he had with Slavoj Zizek, where he explains how capitalism has been transformed, starting with the 2008 financial meltdown, into what he calls technofeudalism. And I must say, he makes a lot of sense.

He starts by recalling what happened in the U.K. on August 12, 2020. That day news broke that the GDP had dropped by a whopping and unprecedented 21 percent. Of course a decline was predicted, with the pandemic and all, but only 8 to 10 percent. Only 15 minutes later that day, the London stock-exchange went 3 percent higher... This discrepancy can not be explained under the normal rules of capitalism; the stock-exchange should have opened with an enormous loss. The only way this can be explained is if stock-markets are being helped with new money from the central banking system. Varoufakis explains that the world's stock-exchanges have become used, and addicted to the constant influx of newly minted money since the financial meltdown of 2008. Whenever the "health" of the stock-markets is threatened, we can count on the Central Banks to prevent a crash. And on that day, the stock-exchange opened up higher because traders anticipated this.

I only partially agree with Varoufakis when he makes this point as a sign that capitalism has defeated itself. I would argue that this is exactly what we'd expect to happen under a system that's addicted to eternal growth, one that even collapses if growth, real or artificial, isn't maintained. This is not capitalism defeating itself, this is capitalism trying to save face. It's his next point that I find convincing, the part where he describes online social platforms, and online businesses like Uber, as digital fiefdoms. The TLDR is this: social platforms and online warehouses like Amazon and E bay are in fact the new marketplace where products and services are bought, offered for sale and advertised. They are the new towns, countries and world where the new markets rise and fall. However, these platforms are owned by one person or one board of shareholders, and these platforms make the ultimate decisions of who is heard and whose products are seen.

I and many others have often talked about the disproportionate power these platforms have over shaping opinions and public discourse. But Varoufakis opened my eyes to a whole other kind of power they have over us. The video is only 13 and a half minute long, and I highly recommend you watch it. If you want to listen to the entire discussion between these two influential leftist thinkers, you can do that here. But be sure to watch the below linked video and listen to Varoufakis explain how freedom dies, is already dead, under technofeudalism...

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy!