Digitalizacion y efecto enjambre. Comunicación, General Intellect y poder en el semiocapitalismo

Este trabajo propone un acercamiento al problema del efecto enjambre en la comunicación contemporánea a partir de la obra de Franco Berardi, en diálogo con otros autores. Para ello se presentan sus aportes respecto de la comunicación, el semiocapitalismo y la gobernanza. Luego, se discute la idea de una “inteligencia colectiva” como potencial de creatividad y libertad a partir de la noción de generall intelect (Marx, Virno, Berardi). A partir de esta cuestión, abordamos el tema “enjambre” como la deriva de la cultura digital contemporánea y sus articulaciones con los conceptos de red y multitud.

Discourse of University: Knowledge in the Era of Contemporary Forms of Capitalism Development

The article represents research in the field of the contemporary forms of economic development based on the knowledge which acts as a new productive force. It is shown that the new stage of economic development is connected to the transformation from the material forms to non-material forms of functioning and has its roots in the cultural revolution of 1970s. The reorganization of the university and the educational organization in European countries in general played the key role as preconditions of the cultural revolution. Marxist methodology was chosen as an instrument for the analysis of knowledge-based economy taking into account the need to develop Marx conception of general intellect (scientific knowledge) and revise the class theory and the theory of surplus value.The key finding is that the contemporary knowledge-based economy implements both financial and productive tendencies in conjunction. It is shown that the predominance of one or another tendency depends on university’s discourse functioning which serves as a mediator between a subject of knowledge and the capitalism discourse. The first tendency reflects undesirable processes of social life: general intellect when it isn’t tied to the production, begins to develop according to the formula «G.I - G.I’», reproducing financial logic of capital increment. In such case, we deal with the process of knowledge submission to capital. The second tendency is connected with the dominance of productive function and defined in terms of cognitive capitalism, where knowledge-based intellectual labor gets its autonomy from capital. Cognitive capitalism represents such form of economic organization where knowledge, as a productive force, makes possible the intellectual productions which involve cognitarians - cognitive workers and producers which are able to create the innovative products. The maintenance and development of the cognitive capitalism become possible in connection with the correct organization of education at university which, in addition to the classic form of knowledge (hard skills), represents a contemporary digital space for the transfer of additional knowledge (soft skills) and serves as a platform for the organization of the effective forms of intellectual productions.

Capital, Science, Technology

Capitalist modernity not only contains profound contradictions, but is also undergoing a significant transformation. Far from acting as a driving force for the development of social productive forces, it has become a parasitic entity with an essentially rentier and speculative function. Underlying this is an institutional framework that favors the private appropriation and the concentration of the products of general intellect.

Why Do Humans Remain Central to the Knowledge Work in the Age of Robots? Marx’s Fragment on Machines and Beyond

The integration of new technologies into the process of production has recently resuscitated the question of world-without-work. Accounts that regard a workless future as a strong possibility often base their arguments on a body of work that upholds that new machines already tend to eliminate the category of work, including knowledge work. This article challenges this view by revisiting Marx’s Fragment on Machines through the lens of autonomist Marxist writings. It offers an answer to the research question, inscribed in the title, that in contemporary capitalism the principal source of value and wealth lies in the general intellect embodied in living labour, living-knowledge-as-mêtis, that cannot be crystallized in and reproduced by the system of machinery and organizational tools in any meaningful way. The political implications of this argument will be discussed in the conclusion.

A Guide to Understanding and Combatting Digital Capitalism

This article offers a general description of digital capitalism, understood as a system in which social and economic dynamics revolve around digital corporations and their infrastructures. The aim of this analysis is to help develop strategies to counteract capitalism. It takes an historical perspective, considering capitalism as an evolving system driven by a continuous flight from the law of diminishing returns. Fixed Capital and General Intellect are addressed as key analytical concepts for understanding the role of technology in capitalism, particularly in the digital era. Subjectivity formation is also a key element, as capitalism needs to progressively improve its strategies of ideological manipulation in order to survive. In the conclusion, I present five strategic principles to counteract digital capitalism. These strategies were developed in the Grupo de Estudios Críticos de Madrid (GEC-Madrid), an interdisciplinary group created in 2018 by the National Museum Reina Sofia (Spain) in order to coordinate the cycle “Six Contradictions and the End of the Present”, a series of lectures and workshops with internationally recognized scholars, followed by research seminars to discuss their ideas.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE AS AN ELEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS

Аннотация. В данной статье рассматривается эволюция правовых взглядов на интеллектуальное право, взаимодействие интеллектуального права и фордистских, пост-фордистских цифровых экономических моделей. Автор анализируют предложенную К. Марксом концепцию «всеобщего интеллекта» как модель адаптации интеллектуального права к новым вызовам. Annotation. This article discusses the evolution of legal views on intellectual law, the interaction of intellectual law and fordist, post – fordist, digital economic models. The author analyzes the concept of «general intellect» proposed by K. Marx as a model for adapting intellectual law to new challenges.