IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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Digital domination
When personal credit and workplaces are dominated by algorithmic management, the central question is who controls digital technologies, says RUTH AYLETT
techno
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
New releases from The Tenementals, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, and Kuunatic
SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism
Cedric Durand, Verso, £18.99
THE term Techno-feudalism that appears in the title of Durands’ book is a new kid on the block in left-wing economic analysis. It represents the idea that capitalism “has been replaced by something worse,” to quote its best-known populariser, Yanis Varoufakis.
The New Left Review ran a debate on this in 2022, and critics such as Evgeny Morozov pointed out (see a recent piece in The Jacobin) that overestimating the radical nature of the current digital upheavals cited risks disarming long-standing critiques of capitalism. As earlier works like Lenin’s Imperialism show, capitalism has changed from its early small-factory basis into a tightly integrated and highly monopolised global economy, but this does not mean it is no longer capitalism.
However, while the last of the four sections in this book gives a neutral overview of that discussion, the book title is misleading in that it is not primarily concerned with what techno-feudalism may or may not be, but with analysing the last 50 years or so of the world economy and the role being played by digital technology. Here it is less speculative and more interesting.
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