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Aslan
10th January 2016, 15:28
If I'm honest, I feel marxists are too focused on the past. Most modern talk is about American hegemony or Russia, which is fine but I feel that current transformations in capitalism are important to notice.

Are these technocrats bourgeois or proletarian? How does modern technology relate to Marx's ideology?

Something that has increasingly been worrying me is the ever expanding loan-culture in America. Silicon valley types are the most worrying thing, but I don't know much about it. Tech companies exploit millions while CEOs make billions, and computer programmers are the holders of technological know-how.

What do you think will occur in the next few years? Is monopolistic capitalism going to make a comeback? For example Starbucks, which is probably the only coffee house company and uses it's resources to destroy it's competition.

Do you guys know about this stuff? Any texts or videos that expand on this subject. How can communists comment about current society?

Something else that I see is that most of these techies are self-taught. Which is interesting, since most of the lower class are ignorant of politics. Something that has interested me was also a part of a Chomsky lecture. He said that once the lower classes were more intellectual, even more than the upper class. Laborers would often have their children read ancient classics, something that disappeared. Now, people often shun old books, which is quite sad. These people don't look very revolutionary in nature to me. They take advantage of the current system, a system where education and intellectual debate is frowned upon. Education is key to liberation, and now the capitalists and their technotarians cronies want to push away and replace truth with lies and propaganda.

Of course I could be wrong on some of these points.

Communist Mutant From Outer Space
10th January 2016, 15:42
Based on what you said after "Are these technocrats bourgeois or proletarian?", it would appear you are confusing technocracy and technophilic fetishism. Technocracy is just a system where the most qualified technicians run a society or govern one therein; the Soviet Union was, for a while, such a system, with many government and party officials being qualified engineers, etc. A greater growth of technology would be good in my opinion as it gives us more reign to create automation and head towards a post-scarcity society.

Aslan
10th January 2016, 15:46
Based on what you said after "Are these technocrats bourgeois or proletarian?", it would appear you are confusing technocracy and technophilic fetishism. Technocracy is just a system where the most qualified technicians run a society or govern one therein; the Soviet Union was, for a while, such a system, with many government and party officials being qualified engineers, etc. A greater growth of technology would be good in my opinion as it gives us more reign to create automation and head towards a post-scarcity society.

I know, that is why I invented the term Technotarian.

John Nada
10th January 2016, 18:45
Are these technocrats bourgeois or proletarian? How does modern technology relate to Marx's ideology?Depends. I'd think like the intelligentsia(probably part of the intelligentsia) it's cross-class. I'd imagine a lot would be labor aristocrats or petit-bourgeoisie, since it'd consist of highly skilled workers or managers.
Something that has increasingly been worrying me is the ever expanding loan-culture in America. Silicon valley types are the most worrying thing, but I don't know much about it. Tech companies exploit millions while CEOs make billions, and computer programmers are the holders of technological know-how.

What do you think will occur in the next few years? Is monopolistic capitalism going to make a comeback? For example Starbucks, which is probably the only coffee house company and uses it's resources to destroy it's competition.Monopoly capitalism is imperialism, capitalism at its highest stage. Like Starbucks exploiting workers and poor peasants in US neo-colonies. It's been around for a while. However it is worrying that since there's no where for capitalism to expand, the contending imperialist will fight a war to re-divide the earth.
I know, that is why I invented the term Technotarian.Apparently supporting a technocracy was actually a thing in the 1930s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement Sounds like one of those utopian socialist movements.

Rafiq
10th January 2016, 23:22
I know, that is why I invented the term Technotarian.

Are you referring to the 'digitari (http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/04/17/the-californian-ideology-2/)'?