I appreciate the effort at temperance. But I wholly disagree that there is not a parallel asymmetry of force, or that the Network States these oligarchs wet dream about are less likely to result from dismantling the administrative state than what you call corporatocracy. And there is the possibility that they become one and the same.
I think that “one and the same” is both the most likely option AND underrates the extent to which the overall historical dynamic is trending towards outright corporatocracy rather than some specific technofeudalism version of it.
In fact, just like how feudalism came in countless varied forms across the medieval world, corporatocracy doubtlessly would as well! But within that context, each country/civilization will manifest corporatocracy in different forms, and our first-order estimate should be that those forms will derive from historical patterns within each country. Thus, the technofeudalism you fear will most likely manifest throughout the third world, where violent zero-sum power dynamics generally rule even during peacetime. America will be closer to a herrenvolk republican version with a libertarian/ODD bent, because duh that’s our dominant culture. Likewise, Europe’s corporatocracy will have deeply entrenched and byzantine social structures; Russia’s will have tsarist tendencies, and China’s will continue to resemble an empire of many departments. Again, those are just first-order descriptions, but the model of the argument here demands that we argue on what deltas from that baseline might look like, rather than assuming some different baseline.
Consumerism might present itself as a choice, but as long as the cultural landscape in the U.S. is a wasteland of market-driven cultural products, and as long as Americans keep to themselves in silos or bubbles (whether it's in the workplace, or in their neighborhoods, etc) consumerism will continue to be the utopia beckoning Americans to fill their spiritual emptiness by shopping 24/7.
You don't need a highly visible dictator, or a king, or any autocratic power to keep this well-oiled machine going. You just keep the people confused, fearful and insecure, and above all, make them think there are no other political, and economic possibilities. At the same time, you give them "stuff" to buy, and you have complete control of the society. I do see our behavior as servile so I like the term, "feudal" to describe it.
I highly recommend the book Technofeudalism, What Killed Capitalism by the former Greek primer minister of finance, Yanis Varoufakis. I find authors like him to be key in understanding what the U.S. and the West is going through. Keeping away from the political and social binaries generated by the U.S. media and many liberal and conservative thinkers is necessary.
I appreciate the effort at temperance. But I wholly disagree that there is not a parallel asymmetry of force, or that the Network States these oligarchs wet dream about are less likely to result from dismantling the administrative state than what you call corporatocracy. And there is the possibility that they become one and the same.
I think that “one and the same” is both the most likely option AND underrates the extent to which the overall historical dynamic is trending towards outright corporatocracy rather than some specific technofeudalism version of it.
In fact, just like how feudalism came in countless varied forms across the medieval world, corporatocracy doubtlessly would as well! But within that context, each country/civilization will manifest corporatocracy in different forms, and our first-order estimate should be that those forms will derive from historical patterns within each country. Thus, the technofeudalism you fear will most likely manifest throughout the third world, where violent zero-sum power dynamics generally rule even during peacetime. America will be closer to a herrenvolk republican version with a libertarian/ODD bent, because duh that’s our dominant culture. Likewise, Europe’s corporatocracy will have deeply entrenched and byzantine social structures; Russia’s will have tsarist tendencies, and China’s will continue to resemble an empire of many departments. Again, those are just first-order descriptions, but the model of the argument here demands that we argue on what deltas from that baseline might look like, rather than assuming some different baseline.
Consumerism might present itself as a choice, but as long as the cultural landscape in the U.S. is a wasteland of market-driven cultural products, and as long as Americans keep to themselves in silos or bubbles (whether it's in the workplace, or in their neighborhoods, etc) consumerism will continue to be the utopia beckoning Americans to fill their spiritual emptiness by shopping 24/7.
You don't need a highly visible dictator, or a king, or any autocratic power to keep this well-oiled machine going. You just keep the people confused, fearful and insecure, and above all, make them think there are no other political, and economic possibilities. At the same time, you give them "stuff" to buy, and you have complete control of the society. I do see our behavior as servile so I like the term, "feudal" to describe it.
I highly recommend the book Technofeudalism, What Killed Capitalism by the former Greek primer minister of finance, Yanis Varoufakis. I find authors like him to be key in understanding what the U.S. and the West is going through. Keeping away from the political and social binaries generated by the U.S. media and many liberal and conservative thinkers is necessary.
Thanks for your article.