“The End of Capitalism has Begun.”
On page 5 It mentions what Karl Marx calls “the power of knowledge.” That is something that really struck me because in this age where knowledge and data are what drives society, then who is suppose to control the power of knowledge. It says in the reading once knowledge replaces productive force, which means it takes less labor to make something cause we already know ways to make it faster and cheaper maybe even with machines doing the building. The word that drives economics now is efficiency, how fast and and cheap can I make my product. Once machines completely replace humans as a work force then knowledge which governs machines becomes a new form of labor. I knowledge is now new force then who controls it, who has the right or is given the right to be the person in charge of managing and using humanities collective knowledge. Thinking about this makes you think, by replacing people with machines are we giving up labor in exchange for control with knowledge, who controls it and who will keep tabs on the people or persons that control the power of knowledge.
In class discussion idea.
I think we should talk about in class what it means to make a new capitalism system. postcapitalism is what he called it and with all the information he gave us, we should consider what seems the most plausible and what we agree or disagree with this new system he has thought up of. We will most lily live to see this shift therefore we should have a understanding if it before it happens.
Interesting discussion question. I doubt any thought went into the postcapitalism system. I believe it was just labeled that simply because that was the way of life after capitalism (though capitalism is still alive and well). I really don’t see the difference in capitalism and postcapitalism. Nice job.
The Karl Marx part Paul Mason used in “The End of Capitalism has Begun” stood out to me as well.
Your discussion question was quite interesting to me, I didn’t even think of that. I do agree that we should have an understanding of such a large switch in our not only our political society but also our informational society. I also agree with Karl Marx’s concept of the power of knowledge, it is something that really makes you think.
I completely agree with how you explained the passage on capitalism. Efficiency is becoming a dominant power and people are definitely focused on making things faster and cheaper. Good response