- 28 Apr 2013 15:07
#14223328
Economic systems such as capitalism and feudalism are of deeper and longer duration than political systems; but the technological system is of deeper and longer historical duration than any economic system. The technological system is the fundamental condition governing all patterns of social existence, having its own laws which are independent of human values and overshadow human values. Capitalism is only an epiphenomenon of technology; it is technology, not capitalism, upon which everything else depends. (By technology, of course, is meant all forms of mechanisation, automation, and cybernetic control -- all bureaucracy, military, government, industry, etc., -- it is indifferent whether the machine is composed of replaceable human parts or inanimate parts. I am also talking specifically about authoritarian, system-oriented technics, in contrast to the older, human-centred, small-scale 'technology' based on human energy.)
Our society has cast off absolute government, and replaced it with the more effective totalitarianism of the technological system. In absolute government, there was still a dependence on the human element. Modern technology has overcome this weakness. Unlike the old system, the centre of authority in the technological system is not a human being, but the system itself. Like the previous totalitarian systems, the technological system is motivated by insane drives based on the will to power -- particularly, the desire to build instruments of mass destruction, and to extend the system itself at any cost.
I believe that the entire network of global technological systems is a conscious intelligence, or developing into a conscious intelligence -- but whether you buy this or not, it is certainly autonomous, self-augmenting, unitary, and developing rapidly according to its own law, in opposition to human values. It is killing my wildlife, polluting my air and water, enslaving my children, and blighting my cities...It is the greatest threat to freedom humanity has ever faced. An anarchist who opposes capitalism while turning a blind eye to the technological system is a fool. The technological system will enslave us all.
Our society has cast off absolute government, and replaced it with the more effective totalitarianism of the technological system. In absolute government, there was still a dependence on the human element. Modern technology has overcome this weakness. Unlike the old system, the centre of authority in the technological system is not a human being, but the system itself. Like the previous totalitarian systems, the technological system is motivated by insane drives based on the will to power -- particularly, the desire to build instruments of mass destruction, and to extend the system itself at any cost.
I believe that the entire network of global technological systems is a conscious intelligence, or developing into a conscious intelligence -- but whether you buy this or not, it is certainly autonomous, self-augmenting, unitary, and developing rapidly according to its own law, in opposition to human values. It is killing my wildlife, polluting my air and water, enslaving my children, and blighting my cities...It is the greatest threat to freedom humanity has ever faced. An anarchist who opposes capitalism while turning a blind eye to the technological system is a fool. The technological system will enslave us all.
Last edited by Wolke on 28 Apr 2013 15:10, edited 1 time in total.
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