Five Theses on Informational - Cognitive Capitalism
George N. Dafermos
dafermos [at] datahost [dot] gr
October 2005.
1
Recession is here, everywhere. Whether recession is artificial and thus
compatible
with the axiomatic of capitalism (that is, the tendency toward a world market),
or
forced and thus a threat to capitalism is still debated. From the perspective of
Capital, what is more important is that the historic magnification, which has
been
defining capitalism since the 15th century, is not likely to maintain its pace
or
character. There are no more barbarians to civilise, no more virgin lands to
conquer and colonise. The new barbarians are refined, the new virgin lands are
not
defined by geographical parameters. Primitive accummulation has been completed;
explosion now gives way to implosion. It was reckoned that a myth central to
capitalism came full circle in three generations: I would start from scratch
with
empty hands and empty pockets, slowly but gradually accummulate rights and
money,
then build a house, find a wife with whom I would make a family, then have a son
and raise him, and, sooner or later, die. My son would repeat the process once
more, but his son ? my grandson - would inherit more than my son did, say three
times more. In the elapsed space of three generations, total wealth would have
multiplied by nine times. This myth starts to shun all relevance: the historic
magnification of capitalism, based on longestablished materialist notions of
value, is no longer feasible. In all probability, my grandson will not inherit
three houses. And here comes the reversal of perspective of Capital: as the
concept of the Spectale is conceived to its full radicality, as a process of
generalised social abstraction, the commodity-form implodes to encompass and
invest all of shared lived experience. The commodity-form has gone well beyond
the
romantic stage of fetishism: while there is no doubt that both the use- and
exchangevalue of a product now largely stem from intangible characteristics,
such
as perceived sex-appeal, coolness, and ephemeral trendiness ? a reality of
contemporary commerce which compels us to rethink value along the lines of what
Jean Baudrillard calls sign value ? commodification does not stop at the
twilight
of shopfronts and commodity shelves, that is, the sphere of materiality, but it
extends beyond them to encompass all of the immaterial. The leverage and
diffussion of commodification has been so overwhelming that goods long
considered
public, such as century-old knowledges pertaining to medical treatments and the
cultivation of the land have been appropriated.[1] In the age of universality of
the spectale, the ultimate commodity is the time of our own lives, that is, the
relationships and experiences that give meaning to its space. The spectacle is
the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social
life.[2] In effect, nothing escapes vulgar commodification. Even some of the
most
subversive and anti-commercial manifestations of shared lived experience have
capitulated. Indicatively, in the space of the last fifteen years, rave has
metamorphosed from an anti-commercial, underground social movement and cultural
phenomenon into a lucrative industry of cool. With the notable exception of
freeraves in England, the commodification of the pulse of rave is ensured by the
increasing centrality of the figure of the Star-DJ (and the ephemeral trendiness
of the Club) to the packaged experience. The associated process of social
formation during a rave is accomplished by reference to the sign value of
fluorescent Adidas trainers and ornament-ised Ecstasy. Rave is now about paying
to
dance to the beats of a cultureindustry professsional, rather than realising
temporary autonomous zones through an intensive process of cross-fertilisation
between underground sub-cultures based on the free sharing of conscience.[3]
Presently, rave's claim to hack reality has given way to spectacular pomp. Far
from becoming a universal anti-systemic movement, as it once aspired, rave,
blessed by the high priests of the culture industry, became an industry of cool.
Now, more that ever before, the utterance the poverty of everyday life
attains a
whole new meaning. It no longer refers to the near-complete lack of authentic
excitement and stimulation in shared lived experience, that is, an ontological
condition predicated on esoteric misery and social boredom; now, it comes to
signify the centrality of the commodity-form to the satisfaction and saturation
of
all of our socio-cultural needs and wants.
2
Would-be information-technology (IT) workers are reckoned to be privileged
because
it is assumed that IT students are in the rare position of needing none and
nothing, except for plenty of time perhaps, in order to acquire those skills and
competencies that will later guarantee them a job in the epicentre of the most
lucrative labour market. But this is yet another
