This looks like Yannis Varoufakis' book on techno-feudalism, and there is much to share and perhaps agree on in the arguments. Varufakis also has ideas about how to counter the unreasonable power of the Musks of this world.
It is not related at all to feudalism, although some armchair philosophers have labeled it as such.
In feudalism the peasant’s rights were tied directly to the land which was tied directly to the master/lord of that land and there were laws and an administrative process called the corvee system that began with the Romans. In feudalism, power revolved around the heritage of nobility and the titles that nobility granted to others. There were only three classes, the clergy/church, the nobility and those with titles and peasants.
What we have now is fascism that revolves around the power accumulated through the consolidation of capital and the repression of the working class. The infrastructure and capture of many institutions are somewhat revealed in the characteristics of fascism, which we can examine throughout history and engage in a comparative analysis to determine if we are a match.
The purpose of NOT calling it fascism is to obfuscate the tools that are available to fight fascism. There are precious few, but what is available is historically effective against it.
This dynamic revolves around the fact that capital is a mode of power in a capitalist society.
Capitalism has been able to consolidate capital continually since 1970 unabated almost. The fallout of this is the fact that the purchasing power of the rank and file worker has only risen +/- 10% in all that time. Since 1978 CEO salaries have risen over 1300%, although that is not the cause of the problem, it is just a symptom. We have over 800 billionaires in the USA alone and the worst inequality of any G7 nation.
We also know that is fascism because we have been examining the architects of the present political goals and ideology of the state for many decades. The harbinger of today began with Fred Koch Sr. in the 1950’s.
Interestingly, there is intersectionality between this administration and the McCarthy hearings and the Albert Hiss case long ago. Trump’s key mentor for many years was Roy Kohn, who also happened to be the prosecutor for the United States against the Rosenberg’s for committing treason against the USA for which they were executed.
The only thing that is a true threat to fascism is the organizational power of unions because striking for higher wages crosses political and religious boundaries and form to serve as a framework for the exchange of ideas, building consensus, and it interrupts the consolidation of capital. The public must have a means to claw back the excess capital that fascism uses to grease the wheels of its relationships within the state and the corrupted government. Without that, the wheels of fascist cooperation grind to a halt because it must have enormous cash flow and capital to sustain itself.
“content creators, occupy positions analogous to medieval serfs, bound to digital platforms through economic necessity and algorithmic control systems. Their work enriches the platform owners while offering little opportunity for genuine economic advancement.” published on Substack ;)
This post I found helpful historical lens to illuminate the formation/ direction of new ariistocracy and what can be described as neo feudalism. Pursuing medieval analogy does help to identify the strange transformations everyone is experiencing. The structural pillars do have unsettling echoes from the past. This piece appears to me empirical enough! This is not speculative unlike previous post. Co ordination of fascist policies/intentions cross territories- while in principle plausible- appears to me to be have inadequate evidence. Use of term fascism can be misleading, when engagement on apps is the typical goal. Not mass mobilisation. This is where Sheldin Wolins use of term ' inverted totalitarianism' to describe features of current regime comes in useful. We are not living through action replay. But tendencies do replay modified by new circumstances.
Medieval times had relatively short life precisely due to its unnatural structure based on dehumanisation and this will not be different.the case of Elon musk for instance is a good example of how war laws were ignored because Russian and other actors could had the right to attack musk properties as one more war actor involved.
Also is necessary to remember how labor cost when up in England and Europe in general as a result of the shortage of hands resulting from bad farms practices from those feudal lords.
what about all the workers of the world who farm, make widgets in factories- industrial capitalism is the norm everywhere outside the imperial core. how is that not considered here?
This looks like Yannis Varoufakis' book on techno-feudalism, and there is much to share and perhaps agree on in the arguments. Varufakis also has ideas about how to counter the unreasonable power of the Musks of this world.
Perhaps a case of not acknowledging one’s inspiration for this essay
It is not related at all to feudalism, although some armchair philosophers have labeled it as such.
In feudalism the peasant’s rights were tied directly to the land which was tied directly to the master/lord of that land and there were laws and an administrative process called the corvee system that began with the Romans. In feudalism, power revolved around the heritage of nobility and the titles that nobility granted to others. There were only three classes, the clergy/church, the nobility and those with titles and peasants.
What we have now is fascism that revolves around the power accumulated through the consolidation of capital and the repression of the working class. The infrastructure and capture of many institutions are somewhat revealed in the characteristics of fascism, which we can examine throughout history and engage in a comparative analysis to determine if we are a match.
The purpose of NOT calling it fascism is to obfuscate the tools that are available to fight fascism. There are precious few, but what is available is historically effective against it.
This dynamic revolves around the fact that capital is a mode of power in a capitalist society.
Capitalism has been able to consolidate capital continually since 1970 unabated almost. The fallout of this is the fact that the purchasing power of the rank and file worker has only risen +/- 10% in all that time. Since 1978 CEO salaries have risen over 1300%, although that is not the cause of the problem, it is just a symptom. We have over 800 billionaires in the USA alone and the worst inequality of any G7 nation.
We also know that is fascism because we have been examining the architects of the present political goals and ideology of the state for many decades. The harbinger of today began with Fred Koch Sr. in the 1950’s.
Interestingly, there is intersectionality between this administration and the McCarthy hearings and the Albert Hiss case long ago. Trump’s key mentor for many years was Roy Kohn, who also happened to be the prosecutor for the United States against the Rosenberg’s for committing treason against the USA for which they were executed.
The only thing that is a true threat to fascism is the organizational power of unions because striking for higher wages crosses political and religious boundaries and form to serve as a framework for the exchange of ideas, building consensus, and it interrupts the consolidation of capital. The public must have a means to claw back the excess capital that fascism uses to grease the wheels of its relationships within the state and the corrupted government. Without that, the wheels of fascist cooperation grind to a halt because it must have enormous cash flow and capital to sustain itself.
For more info https://davidwjonesusa.substack.com/p/yes-it-is-undeniably-fascism-we-have
‘…the consolidation of capital and the repression of the working class.’
Ladies and gentlemen — we have a winner!
https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/internationalPoliticsCategory/fight-against-fascism
There is another name for it: archeofuturism. The return of myth, combined with the use of technology, to dominate tomorrow.
A fringe French far-right thesis, turned into a playbook in America...
https://open.substack.com/pub/heyslick/p/archeofuturism-the-secret-doctrine
“content creators, occupy positions analogous to medieval serfs, bound to digital platforms through economic necessity and algorithmic control systems. Their work enriches the platform owners while offering little opportunity for genuine economic advancement.” published on Substack ;)
Meh …
Medieval lords had some interest vested in keeping their vassals alive.
Terorismus algorytmů
This post I found helpful historical lens to illuminate the formation/ direction of new ariistocracy and what can be described as neo feudalism. Pursuing medieval analogy does help to identify the strange transformations everyone is experiencing. The structural pillars do have unsettling echoes from the past. This piece appears to me empirical enough! This is not speculative unlike previous post. Co ordination of fascist policies/intentions cross territories- while in principle plausible- appears to me to be have inadequate evidence. Use of term fascism can be misleading, when engagement on apps is the typical goal. Not mass mobilisation. This is where Sheldin Wolins use of term ' inverted totalitarianism' to describe features of current regime comes in useful. We are not living through action replay. But tendencies do replay modified by new circumstances.
Medieval times had relatively short life precisely due to its unnatural structure based on dehumanisation and this will not be different.the case of Elon musk for instance is a good example of how war laws were ignored because Russian and other actors could had the right to attack musk properties as one more war actor involved.
Also is necessary to remember how labor cost when up in England and Europe in general as a result of the shortage of hands resulting from bad farms practices from those feudal lords.
The image you used for this—what’s its derivation?
what about all the workers of the world who farm, make widgets in factories- industrial capitalism is the norm everywhere outside the imperial core. how is that not considered here?