thanks! On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 11:26 AM David Garcia < d.gar...@new-tactical-research.co.uk> wrote:
> Felix wrote: > > > Mozorov puts lots of emphasis on her lack of engagement with other > > theories of contemporary capitalism and her unwillingness to considers > > options beyond the market. And, really, not even Wikipedia is ever > > mentioned (expect as a source once) and Free Software only in relation > > to Android and Google's strategy to dominate it. Thus, she never asks > > why such alternatives exist and what could be done to support them. So, > > the only alternative we get is Apple, the company, as Richard Stallman > > famously put it, that "made prison look cool”. > > I am also reading this large tome in bits and moments.. But so far I > actually do feel > there is more engagement other theories of 'contemporary capitalism’ than > she is being > given credit for by Mozorov. She goes into some detail on the relevance of > Hannah Arendt’s > complication of Marx’s concept of 'primitive accumulation’ (page 99) with > regard to Google’s > discovery of the potential for exploitation of the vast quantities of our > ‘behavioural surplus’ > which they simply seized as the new ‘virgin rain forest’ in the > permissionless culture > of Sylicon valley. > > Zuboff points out that Arendt complicates both Polanyi and Marx’s > notion by pointing out that ‘primitive accumulation’ wasnt just "a one > time primal explosion > that gave rise to capitalism but a recuring phase in a repeating cycle as > more aspects of > the social and natural world are subordinated to the market dynamic. > > Zuboff then proceeds to show how David Harvey builds on Arendt’s writing > with his notion > of the “accumulation of dispossession”.. In this case of course we are > being dispossed of our > own most intimate life spaces.. > > Coincidentally I was reading an interview with Harvey this morning where > he asserts > that “extraction and appropriation of value (often through dispossession) > at the point > of realisation is a political focus of struggle as are the qualities of > daily life” > hewire.in/economy/david-harvey-marxist-scholar-neo-liberalism > > So Zuboff provides useful explanetory and rhetorical tools to more > aggressively contest > these new sites of accumulation. > > Of course I am quite early and I am sure that many of the flaws spotted > are accurate > but lack of engagement with other theories of capitalism doesnt seem to be > quite correct. > > She is certainly able to draw multiple familier threads together with some > lucidity and anger which is > an achievement. As well as the ‘guts’ and intellectual confidence to pick > fights with powerful contemporary > players whom she identifies as complicit with surveilance capitalism > (which differentiates her from other > highly placed scholars of the digital e.g. Manuel Castells). > > Although the extreme praise (the new Adam Smith or Marx etc) are probably > ludicrous > (so far and I am just a few chapters in) I think there is plenty of value > to be found in the > nearly 700 hundred pages. > > > > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > -- http://www.rachelodwyer.com/ +353 (85) 7023779
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
