Algorithmic Capital

A rich and audacious account of the mutually reinforcing transformations of capitalism and technology in the age of AI

This book provides a critical theory of the new stage of algorithmic capitalism, and maps out paths for critique and resistance. AI and algorithms are not just technologies, they are rooted in new capitalist forms and processes that transcend economics and technology. as a result, they profoundly reshape social reality, politics, culture and subjectivities. Set out in 20 theses, that stretch from geopolitics, the mining of rare earths, labour, crypto, influencers, climate change, GenAI, social acceleration, Silicon Valley ideologies and predictive policing, this book situates contemporary social change in the context of the advent of algorithmic capital. Through this the authors show how the valorization of data and the development of AI are symptoms of deeper socio-economic and political mutations. Algorithmic capital is, at once, a logic of accumulation, a form of social power, a mediation of social relations and a relation to nature, as well as a multidimensional reality that profoundly reshapes social life. In the face of this new stage of capitalism, the book explores paths towards organizing and resistance, tracing ways of fighting and exiting algorithmic capitalism towards a post-capitalist and just world.Thesis 1
We Need a Critical Theory of Algorithms
Thesis 2
A Theory of Algorithms Needs a Theory of Capitalism
Thesis 3
Algorithms Accelerate Time and Keep us Glued to our Screens
Thesis 4
Algorithms are Machines for Extraction, Prediction and Manipulation
Thesis 5
AI Isn’t Abolishing Work, But Reorganizing and Exploiting it
Thesis 6
Algorithmic Technologies Are Colonizing the Domestic Sphere, Housework, Care and Emotional Labor
Thesis 7
Big Data and Machine Learning are the Main drivers of Algorithmic Capital
Thesis 8
Neoliberalism Is Giving Way to a New Stage of Capitalism
Thesis 9
A New Form of Power Is Emerging: Algorithmic Governmentality
Thesis 10
The Algorithmic Logic Extends to the State, the Public Administration and the Police
Thesis 11
Algorithmic Capital Disrupts and Erodes Democratic Life
Thesis 12
Algorithmic Capital Is Helping to Reshape the International Order
Thesis 13
The Siliconization of the World Is Continuing Apace
Thesis 14
The Global Pandemic Brought a Great Leap Forward for Algorithmic Capitalism
Thesis 15
Algorithms Won’t Save Us from Climate Crisis
Thesis 16
Algorithms Are Changing Socialization Processes and Intimate Relationships, And Shaping New Subjectivities
Thesis 17
Algorithms Are Generating New Forms of Alienation
Thesis 18
We Should Resist Algorithmic Capital — And Support the Struggles That Are Developing
Thesis 19
We Must Find the Virtues in Technologies and Criticize Their Vices
Thesis 20
We Need Technosober Democratic Planning — Reining in Algorithms and Tightening the Limits of the Digital World

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IndexJonathan Martineau is Associate Professor at the Liberal Arts College, Concordia University, Montreal, and Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Time, Technology and Capitalism (CIRTTC - cirttc.org). He specializes in the history of ideas, political economy, critical theory and technology studies. He is the author of Time, Capitalism and Alienation and editor of Marxisme anglo-saxon. Figures contemporaines.

Jonathan Durand Folco is Associate Professor at the School for Social Innovation, St Paul University, Ottawa. He specializes in political philosophy, critical theory, democracy studies and social innovation. He is the author of Réinventer la démocratie and À nous la ville! Traité de municipalisme.