Technofeudalism
* Book: Yanis Varoufakis. Technofeudalism. What Killed Capitalism. Penguin, 2023
URL = https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781847927279
See also: the discussion on Techno-Feudalism
Description
1.
"In his boldest and most far-reaching book yet, world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead and a new economic era has begun.
Insane sums of money that were supposed to re-float our economies in the wake of the financial crisis and the pandemic have ended up supercharging big tech's hold over every aspect of the economy. Capitalism's twin pillars - markets and profit - have been replaced with big tech's platforms and rents. Meanwhile, with every click and scroll, we labour like serfs to increase its power.
Welcome to technofeudalism.
Drawing on stories from Greek Myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, Varoufakis explains this revolutionary transformation: how it enslaves our minds, how it rewrites the rules of global power and ultimately what it will take overthrow it."
(https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781847927279)
2. Daniel Pinchbeck:
"Varfoukanis argues that the development of the privatized Internet—the integration of digital technology into finance, media, and every aspect of our lives—has actually brought about the end of Capitalism in its traditional form. He believes we have now entered a different economic order. He calls this “technofeudalism,” dominated by “cloud capital,” where personal identity has been outsourced to private companies, who monetize our attention.
Varfoukanis compares this to the Enclosure movement of the 18th and 19th Century, when land traditionally held in common was privatized and taken over by the wealthy: “As with the original Enclosures, some form of fence would be necessary to keep the masses out of such an important resource. In the eighteenth century, it was land that the many were denied access to. In the twenty-first century, it is access to our own identity.”
(https://danielpinchbeck.substack.com/p/from-capitalism-to-technofeudalism?)