Tag: Capital is Dead

Farmers vs. Vectoralists: Takeaways from McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead (Audio)

March 8, 2020

In this final video on McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? I discuss some of the big takeaways I get from the book, and relate Wark’s view of “past masters” and detournement of old ideas to Friedrich Nietzsche’s three types of history in On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. Along the way, we find out why farmers are turning into hackers. … More Farmers vs. Vectoralists: Takeaways from McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead (Audio)

Farmers vs. Vectoralists: Takeaways from McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead (Video)

March 8, 2020

In this final video on McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? I discuss some of the big takeaways I get from the book, and relate Wark’s view of “past masters” and detournement of old ideas to Friedrich Nietzsche’s three types of history in On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. Along the way, we find out why farmers are turning into hackers. … More Farmers vs. Vectoralists: Takeaways from McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead (Video)

The Sins of the Scientists–Did They Fail Us? (Wark 6 Audio)

March 1, 2020

Thinking about Ch. 5 in McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse?, I dwell on how the scientists and technologists might have been able to make the world truly better rather than more dangerous and polluted. We still look at them as our heroes and saviors. But they’ve done more harm than good, at least arguably. Who or what is responsible for their status as tools of corporate profit-seeking and national security? What light does this unorthodox view of scientists (not as our saviors but as a large part of the problem) have to say about if and how we can deal with our environmental problems. Is there any reason to think that the scientific and technical hacker class can rise to the occasion and use their latent imagination to create pathways to a better way of life? … More The Sins of the Scientists–Did They Fail Us? (Wark 6 Audio)

The Sins of the Scientists–Did They Fail Us? (Wark 6 Video)

March 1, 2020

Thinking about Ch. 5 in McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse?, I dwell on how the scientists and technologists might have been able to make the world truly better rather than more dangerous and polluted. We still look at them as our heroes and saviors. But they’ve done more harm than good, at least arguably. Who or what is responsible for their status as tools of corporate profit-seeking and national security? What light does this unorthodox view of scientists (not as our saviors but as a large part of the problem) have to say about if and how we can deal with our environmental problems. Is there any reason to think that the scientific and technical hacker class can rise to the occasion and use their latent imagination to create pathways to a better way of life? … More The Sins of the Scientists–Did They Fail Us? (Wark 6 Video)

Hackers, Marx and the Tape Guy (Wark 2, Audio)

February 3, 2020

We move into Chapter 2 of McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse. Wark thinks that people on the left as well as the right need to end their love affair with capitalism and summon their inner punk rock goddess and try something new. The something new entails detournement of old ideas–an irreverant use of parts and neglect of other parts in order to account for an economy that Marx would not recognize. There’s a hint that the hacker class should somehow organize by first seeing what they have in common–they do not control the information they manipulate in order to monetize it for the vectoralist class. Wark very clearly explains the connection between the current state of property law and the power of this new class of people, a class responsible for the “disintegrating spectacle” of our world, information, entertainment, commerce and therapy become so intertwined that we are constantly confused, suspicious and mentally exhausted. I comment on that phenomenon and the relative lack of reference to government institutions in this part of the book, but there is the political implication that the hacker class is potentially powerful. Should they take aim at property law? It’s too early to tell, but that’s one possibility. … More Hackers, Marx and the Tape Guy (Wark 2, Audio)

Hackers, Marx and the Tape Guy (Wark 2)

February 3, 2020

We move into Chapter 2 of McKenzie Wark’s Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse. Wark thinks that people on the left as well as the right need to end their love affair with capitalism and summon their inner punk rock goddess and try something new. The something new entails detournement of old ideas–an irreverant use of parts and neglect of other parts in order to account for an economy that Marx would not recognize. There’s a hint that the hacker class should somehow organize by first seeing what they have in common–they do not control the information they manipulate in order to monetize it for the vectoralist class. Wark very clearly explains the connection between the current state of property law and the power of this new class of people, a class responsible for the “disintegrating spectacle” of our world, information, entertainment, commerce and therapy become so intertwined that we are constantly confused, suspicious and mentally exhausted. I comment on that phenomenon and the relative lack of reference to government institutions in this part of the book, but there is the political implication that the hacker class is potentially powerful. Should they take aim at property law? It’s too early to tell, but that’s one possibility.
… More Hackers, Marx and the Tape Guy (Wark 2)

The Vectoralist Class–Introduction to McKenzie Wark (Audio)

January 26, 2020

This is first in a series of videos on McKenzie Wark’s book Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? I introduce Wark and some of the main ideas in the introduction, setting the stage for the rest of the book. Wark argues that we should break free from our love affair with capitalism, carried on by both the right and left, that thinks of capital as eternal. Further we should break free of old narratives such as a worshipful loyalty to political theories of the past. We learn a little about how we are both consumer and product, and how the ruling class, in Wark’s view, is no longer land-owning or even factory owning, but information owning. And how is information successfully owned and wielded in a world in which it is so prevalent and seemingly hard to control? Wark promises to show us how.
For more from me:
https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/ … More The Vectoralist Class–Introduction to McKenzie Wark (Audio)

The Vectoralist Class–Introduction to McKenzie Wark

January 26, 2020

This is first in a series of videos on McKenzie Wark’s book Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? I introduce Wark and some of the main ideas in the introduction, setting the stage for the rest of the book. Wark argues that we should break free from our love affair with capitalism, carried on by both the right and left, that thinks of capital as eternal. Further we should break free of old narratives such as a worshipful loyalty to political theories of the past. We learn a little about how we are both consumer and product, and how the ruling class, in Wark’s view, is no longer land-owning or even factory owning, but information owning. And how is information successfully owned and wielded in a world in which it is so prevalent and seemingly hard to control? Wark promises to show us how. … More The Vectoralist Class–Introduction to McKenzie Wark