TECHNOFEUDALISM by Yanis Varoufakis
At this session of our counter-narratives circle we will discuss "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism" by Yanis Varoufakis. Everyone attending needs to do the reading beforehand, but it's OK if you don't manage to finish in time!
Technofeudalism is the notion that the owners of big tech are our new feudal overlords; we serve them by handing over data to access their cloud space. Under technofeudalism, our preferences are no longer our own – they're manufactured by the cloud through a feedback loop that removes our agency. We train the algorithm to find what we like, and then the algorithm trains us to like what it offers. Cloud capital has shattered the individual into fragments of data, an identity comprised of choices as expressed by clicks, which its algorithms can then manipulate. Young people spend most of their time meticulously cultivating an authentic online identity, which is monetised by cloud capital. Even our time is not our own; we are cloud serfs.
The contention here is also that technofeudalism has demolished the fence that used to provide the liberal individual with a refuge from the market when industrial capitalism dominated. Social democrats were able to make a difference back then, acting as intermediaries between organized labour and industrial capitalists, forcing them to compromise. The result was improved wages and conditions for the workers as well as the diversion of a chunk of industry’s profits to pensions, hospitals, schools, unemployment insurance and the arts. Social democrats had some power over the industrialists because they had the backing of the trade unions and could threaten painful regulation. But as power shifted from industry to finance after Bretton-Woods collapsed, social democrats were lured into a Faustian bargain with the bankers, eventually leading to the financial crisis of 2008
The ensuing large bailouts to bankers ended up on Wall Street, along with profits from the rest of the world. This fuelled the development of cloud capital – and the advent of technofeudalism with its "cloudalists," (the big feudal tech overlords), "cloud proles" (exploited workers in Amazon and other factories) and "cloud serfs" (most of us users, who produce free data – unpaid labour – for cloud capital). Cloudalists don't fear powerful unions because cloud proles are too weak to form them, and we cloud serfs don't even consider ourselves producers. The cloudalists know they can destroy any external developer (or vassal capitalist) contacting their cloud serfs on their cloud fief without paying a cloud rent. They know they can treat their users however they like — because of the hostages they hold: our contacts, chat histories, photos, videos, which we lose if we switch to a competing cloud fief.
The book also discusses alternatives to technofeudalism, and how to build them. Democratising companies is one element: collectivising ownership, eliminating the class divide between owners and workers, and abolishing the shares market. Democratising money is another: creating a kind of monetary commons whereby central banks serve the people instead of serving private bankers and their permanently unstable banks.
One of the issues we might want to discuss at this session is whether capitalism is really dead, as the book suggests. Marx described our condition under capitalism as one of alienation – stemming from not owning the means of production or the fruits of our labour. Under technofeudalism, the contention is that we no longer even own our minds. But is technofeudalism truly and structurally different from capitalism, or is it rather yet another and even more virulent phase of it, following industrial capitalism, neoliberalism, financial capitalism? And how might this affect the way we build alternatives?
Please contact me (Sona) at spxx@kpnmail.nl for further info. If you plan to attend, please let me know at least 3 days in advance, preferably earlier. And please also remember to cancel asap if your plans change. Looking forward to seeing you!
About the author: Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, Greece's former minister of finance, cofounder of DiEM25, and former member of the Hellenic Parliament for MeRA25. He has taught economic theory at universities across the world including Exeter and East Anglia (UK), Sydney (Australia), Athens (Greece) and Austin (USA). He is a most original thinker, a brilliant speaker, and the author of several books on democracy, capitalism, Europe and the importance of internationalism.
NOTE: There will be a donation jar and some refreshments available (cash or pin). Please think about donating something if you are able; a place like NieuwLand can only exist through the contributions of volunteers and friends, who know of the importance of places like this, which exist alternative to an individualistic society, capitalist economy and gentrifying neighbourhoods.
