Economics

Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

  • Downloads：8014
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2023-11-02 12:22:02
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Yanis Varoufakis
  • ISBN：B0BYT6S4K6
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
  • Download

Summary

The #1 bestselling economist shows how capitalism has been replaced by a more exploitative system， technofeudalism， in which the owners of big tech have become the world's feudal overlords。

* A GUARDIAN BEST FORTHCOMING BOOK OF 2023 * THE TIMES BIGGEST BOOKS OF AUTUMN 2023 *

‘What an amazing piece of work this is。 The dark， scary， exciting song of our age。 100 out of 100’ IRVINE WELSH

In his boldest and most far-reaching book yet， world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead and a new economic era has begun。

Insane sums of money that were supposed to re-float our economies in the wake of the financial crisis and the pandemic have ended up supercharging big tech's hold over every aspect of the economy。 Capitalism's twin pillars - markets and profit - have been replaced with big tech's platforms and rents。 Meanwhile， with every click and scroll， we labour like serfs to increase its power。 Welcome to technofeudalism。

Drawing on stories from Greek Myth and pop culture， from Homer to Mad Men ， Varoufakis explains this revolutionary how it enslaves our minds， how it rewrites the rules of global power and ultimately what it will take overthrow it。

'Utterly accessible， deeply humane and startlingly original' NAOMI KLEIN on Talking To My Daughter

Download

Reviews

Mahmoud ，

As a technical person， I like this book and I think the idea of Technofeudalism is valid and it is the right word to use。 Lots of interesting contents and materials related to technology and economy。 One of the specially interesting pages to me were about the transfer of the internet from and open， common， social and mysterious ocean to few large besieged and controlled spaces， I witnessed this awful transfer and I wonder how this monopoly game will turn to。 Below is my review / summary of the b As a technical person， I like this book and I think the idea of Technofeudalism is valid and it is the right word to use。 Lots of interesting contents and materials related to technology and economy。 One of the specially interesting pages to me were about the transfer of the internet from and open， common， social and mysterious ocean to few large besieged and controlled spaces， I witnessed this awful transfer and I wonder how this monopoly game will turn to。 Below is my review / summary of the book （In Arabic） in which I was hesitant to publish knowing that I am just adding fuel to the big machine and feeding the beast but at least with good and useful ideas not distractions and useless content。 *The distinction between free serfs with good content and bad content should be highlighted in the book too:） https://www。youtube。com/watch？v=ID2X4。。。 。。。more

Yotpseudba ，

An interesting comment on the structural shift of profit models between traditional capitalism focused on production/finance to internet 'cloudilism'（kill me） focused on monopoly and rents。 Like all these kind of books， the implication is overstated （'What killed capitalism'）， but some comments on the implications of a greater share of the economy being locked into rents and pseudo-usufructory labour by users is interesting， as his discussion on the current tech-war between the US and China。 One An interesting comment on the structural shift of profit models between traditional capitalism focused on production/finance to internet 'cloudilism'（kill me） focused on monopoly and rents。 Like all these kind of books， the implication is overstated （'What killed capitalism'）， but some comments on the implications of a greater share of the economy being locked into rents and pseudo-usufructory labour by users is interesting， as his discussion on the current tech-war between the US and China。 One gets the feeling that Varoufakis' personal experience and involvement in the 2008 financial crisis has led to a parochial focus on the event as the genesis of almost every even after it， which clouds the analysis somewhat。 There is really nothing wrong with the book， but at the same time i don't think you will get much out of it that you couldn't by watching his lectures and speeches on the subject on youtube， ironically。 It is more concept than analysis。 。。。more

Jakub Dovcik ，

As controversial as Varoufakis is， I have always considered his books interesting inputs to the public debate about global capitalism or as an interesting lens through which to look at it。 This book does a similar thing - it looks at the impact of both the platform model of big tech firms as well as the ultra-low interest rates era on the functioning of capitalism。 In a way， the analysis is not novel at all - every business school teaches the case studies of Amazon marketplace， App Store etc。 - As controversial as Varoufakis is， I have always considered his books interesting inputs to the public debate about global capitalism or as an interesting lens through which to look at it。 This book does a similar thing - it looks at the impact of both the platform model of big tech firms as well as the ultra-low interest rates era on the functioning of capitalism。 In a way， the analysis is not novel at all - every business school teaches the case studies of Amazon marketplace， App Store etc。 - but what makes it interesting is the more normative analysis connecting the functioning of these platforms with the feudalist economic models （what he describes as the ‘cloud capital’， that is based not on profit， but rent）。There is again a lot of personal backstory， this time with his father， who was an engineer and a leftist in Greece - the book is styled as an answer to his father’s question ‘Now that computers speak to each other， will this network make capitalism impossible to overthrow？ Or might it finally reveal its Achilles heel？’。 There is once again some history of capitalism and the Marxist theory of labour value （labour vs labouring power which Varoufakis calls commodity vs experiential labour） and of course， the Global Minotaur theory。 That much is expected and his writing is interesting enough for a reader to enjoy it once again。An interesting part of the book is his analysis of the various contributing factors to the growth of the technological feudal overlords。 For instance， he considers the massive growth of the banking sector （the 'terrestrial capital'） and its financialization as a strong contributing factor to the rise of business models based on rent。 Or he looks at the growth of three gigantic passive income managers - BlackRock， Vanguard and StateStreet （attributing malicious nature to them feels a bit strange due to their passive nature） whose indirect impact in propping up the stock market was based on the ultra-low interest rates， allowing for the emergence of the cloud fiefdoms。 Overall， it is interesting， but quite short and not fully convincing。 His theory holds for relatively few firms under some circumstances but largely fails once the interest rates go up。 It nevertheless describes the power dynamics within modern late capitalism relatively well。 。。。more

Amardeep Dhillon ，

This is the kind of book you take your time over to fully digest each section before the next。 A great read for those interested in the topic and pressents a singular perspective with its supporting evidence all of which rests on carefully selected or analysed evidence。

Anna ，

Varoufakis addresses Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism to his father as a response to the questions his father asked when faced with the internet in 1993: 'Now that computers spreak to each other， will this network make capitalism impossible to overthrow？ Or might it finally reveal its Achilles heel？' Despite Varoufakis' wit and warmth， his conclusions are undoubtedly a total downer。 He contends that capitalism is indeed being transformed and crowded out by the economic effects of the int Varoufakis addresses Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism to his father as a response to the questions his father asked when faced with the internet in 1993: 'Now that computers spreak to each other， will this network make capitalism impossible to overthrow？ Or might it finally reveal its Achilles heel？' Despite Varoufakis' wit and warmth， his conclusions are undoubtedly a total downer。 He contends that capitalism is indeed being transformed and crowded out by the economic effects of the internet， but it's being replaced by something worse。 To date the fullest description of this new economic form has been surveillance capitalism， coined by Shoshana Zuboff。 Varousfakis argues that it is instead a new form of feudalism and helpfully summarises its structure and value flows as parasitic upon capitalism in figure 3 on page 234。Although initially sceptical of how useful comparisons with feudalism could be， I came around to Varoufakis' idiodyncratic analysis if not his terminology。 He builds on The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power and Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy by adding international financial and geopolitical factors。 I found his discussion of quantitative easing and explanation for economic tensions between China and the US well-argued。 Regarding the former， this passage from chapter 4 punched me right in the face:Socialism for the financiers gave rise to another cluster of financial uber-lords to rival the cloudalists - three US companies with powers exceeding those of private equity all terrestrial capitalists put together: BlackRock， Vanguard， and State Street。 These three firms， the Big Three as they are known in financial circles， effectively own American capitalism。 No， I am not exaggerating。[。。。] Together， the Big Three are the largest single shareholder in almost 90 percent of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange， including Apple， Microsoft， ExxonMobil， General Electric， and Coca-Cola。 [。。。] At the time of writing， BlackRock manages nearly $10 trillion in investments， Vanguard $8 trillion， and State Street $4 trillion。 [。。。] This could not have happened before 2008 because until then the ultra-rich simply did not have access to enough cash with which the Big Three could buy a significant chunk of the New York Stock Exchange。 After 2008， however， central bank-sponsored socialism for the ultra-rich created more than enough money。 What the absolute fuck！ I hadn't realised that hedge funds had consolidated to this deranged extent。 On the geopolitical front， I wasn't previously aware of China's digital yuan project or how it could reshape financial flows， so found this very informative:When you pay for your coffee or train ticket using a smartphone app or microchip-equipped debit card， these conventional digital payments go through the infrastructure of private banks。 What China had created with digital money issued directly by a central bank， cutting out those middlemen， the private bankers。 [。。。]Before 2022， Chinese cloud finance and the digital yuan resembled a brand new road with little traffic。 Why would the ultra-wealthy of the world direct money through a yuan-paved road， policed by the People's Bank of China， when they could use the existing， albeit bumpy， dollar-built superhighway？ A good reason appeared soon after the first explosions over Kyiv， Kharkiv， and Mariupol: the [。。。] seizure by America of hundreds of billions of dollars belonging to Russia's central bank。Blocked from the dollar superhighway， Russian money began to use the under-utilised， glistening Chinese alternative。 And it was not just Russian money that chose this new route。 Many wealthy non-Russians， too， felt reluctant to continue letting their money race down the dollar freeway。 They began to question the wisdom of relying entirely on the kindness of Washington's dollar traffic-rangers， who could pull them over any time。 Little by little， they began diversifying。 It's enlightening to compare this book with Paul Mason's 2015 Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future， which I reviewed at length in 2016。 Of my comments， 'The thought experiment of what if all information really was freely available， somehow， really makes you aware of how many monopolies defend it at present （amazon， google， facebook， et al），' has aged well and， 'I agree with Mason that the current monopolistic situation is fragile and unsustainable，' really has not。 Varoufakis admits that he too had techno-utopian hopes:I fantasised groups of young designers forming co-operatives using industrial-scale 3D printers to create a variety of goods - from personalised cars to made-to-order refrigerators - at a cost that did not require mass production to stay low。 Such co-operatives might， I hoped， steal an advantage over the General Motors and the General Electrics of the capitalist world - that， to use the language of economists， the economies of scale that underpin the power of General Motors and General Electric would be eradicated， activating a process that would at least deplete corporate power and might perhaps pave the way towards a decent non-capitalist future。 Cory Doctorow extrapolated this very scenario in his 2009 novel Makers （which I wasn't keen on）; now he writes about platform enshittification （I love that term） on pluralistic。net and in books like The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation。 Everyone's utopian hopes have been crushed by technology becoming a force for monopolisation and rent-seeking。 Looking back at my 2020 review of the 2017 book Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy， the economist authors were starting to grasp it back then: We should consider the possibility that the true nature of intangible investment has changed。 Maybe it conceals rent-seeking activities that superficially look like they increase productivity but actually do nothing of the sort。 This is precisely the point that Varoufakis is developing in Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism:From the factory owners in America's Midwest to poets struggling to sell their latest anthology， from London Uber drivers to Indonesian street hawkers， all are now dependent upon some cloud fief for access to customers。 [。。。] Looked at in totality， it becomes apparent that the world economy is lubricated less and less with profit and increasingly with cloud rent。 And so a delightful antinomy of our era comes into focus: capitalist activity is growing within the same process of energetic capitalist accumulation that degrades capitalist profit and gradually replaces capital markets with cloud fiefs。 In short， capitalism is withering as a result of burgeoning capitalist activity。 As ever， Varoufakis packs a lot into not many pages。 He even makes time to summarise his prior book Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present， which I highly recommend。 Unsurprisingly， Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism is a much more pessimistic read。 Appendix 1， which explains his theory economics-textbook style， includes this painful sting in the tail:Technofeudalism is synonymous with the universalisation of exploitation and with the shrinking of the value base （in proportion to the rise of cloud rent's share of all incomes）。 This dynamic accentuates the system's propensity to deeper and more frequent crises。 As a result， the central banks that funded the initial accumulation of cloud capital will be forced perpetually to print more and more monies to replace the role that profits and wages used to play under capitalism。 But this only helps cloud capital accumulate further （since cloudalists will always have a greater capacity than every other class to appropriate the printed central bank money）。 In short， technofeudalism is condemned to exhibit a dynamic doom-loop more volatile and exploitative than even that of capitalism。 It seems petty to quibble about terminology， but I wasn't keen on the terms 'cloud fief'， 'cloudalists'， 'cloud rent'， etc。 I can see their usefulness for now， but doubt they will stick longer term。 Moreover， I think the emergent economic system we are currently living under deserves a genuinely new name rather incorporating that of a prior system。 Referring to feudalism for explanatory purposes makes sense， but implies a return to the pre-capitalist world which is misleading。 Ideally this new name will be more sophisticated than 'fuckery'， which is all my brain could come up with。 Perhaps the nomenclature will come from a language other than English。It has taken me a while to review Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism as I found it profoundly depressing， in contrast to The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power。 This time， improved understanding made me feel worse about the state of the world rather than better。 Moreover， I'm keenly aware that by posting a review on amazon-owned goodreads I am working as a cloudserf。 Aren't we all！ I recommend Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism， with the caveat that if you take it seriously you will feel very depressed afterwards。 。。。more

Kevin Carson ，

"Every now and then。。。， he would speculate on how capitalism might， one day， end – and what would replace it。 His wish was that it would not die with a bang， because bangs had a tendency to cull good people in awful numbers; that instead socialist islands might spring up spontaneously in our vast capitalist archipelago and that they would expand gradually， eventually forming whole continents on which technologically advanced commons would prevail。"A lot of useful material， but the techno-feudali "Every now and then。。。， he would speculate on how capitalism might， one day， end – and what would replace it。 His wish was that it would not die with a bang， because bangs had a tendency to cull good people in awful numbers; that instead socialist islands might spring up spontaneously in our vast capitalist archipelago and that they would expand gradually， eventually forming whole continents on which technologically advanced commons would prevail。"A lot of useful material， but the techno-feudalist thesis is overstated IMO。 It exaggerates the break between capitalism and its alleged techno-feudal successor， precisely because it exaggerates the sharpness of the transition between feudalism and capitalism。 Far from rent being merely profit’s “feudal predecessor，” there has always been a large rentier component in capitalism， and it has always been used to extract passive incomes and to destroy productive capacity or impede the production of use-value。 Even among classic industrial firms， in which physical means of production were owned by capitalists， an enormous share of profit consisted of Veblen’s “capitalized disserviceability。” And despite Varoufakis’s framing of today’s economy — in which “owners of traditional capital， such as machinery， buildings， railway and phone networks， industrial robots” are “vassals in relation to a new class of feudal overlord， the owners of cloud capital” — as a novelty， owners of physical capital long ago assumed that status in relation to finance capital， which had a similar extractive logic。 Likewise， the increasing growth of “cloud serfdom” at the expense of wage labor， as a source of surplus extraction， is analogous to a similar phenomenon anticipated generations ago in Marxist analysis of monopoly capital: the extraction of profit from consumers by unequal exchange， rather than from workers in the production process。 。。。more

Iqra Tasmiae ，

https://www。yanisvaroufakis。eu/2023/1。。。https://www。palestine-studies。org/en/。。。 https://www。yanisvaroufakis。eu/2023/1。。。https://www。palestine-studies。org/en/。。。 。。。more

Francisco Ebeling ，

Although I sympathize with Varoufakis' political views and economic approach， I could not agree with the book's core thesis， that we now live under Technofeudalism。 Where is the evidence for it （e。g。 % of GDP of cloud capitalism）？ What about examining it under the prism of the Varieties of Capitalism Literature， that would have perhaps concluded that while some countries are heavily under influence of that new type of capital， others might be not？Apart from that， the book has some factual errors Although I sympathize with Varoufakis' political views and economic approach， I could not agree with the book's core thesis， that we now live under Technofeudalism。 Where is the evidence for it （e。g。 % of GDP of cloud capitalism）？ What about examining it under the prism of the Varieties of Capitalism Literature， that would have perhaps concluded that while some countries are heavily under influence of that new type of capital， others might be not？Apart from that， the book has some factual errors that could have been looked up in Wikipedia: Data Warehouses are a specific subtype of data storage and Neural Networks have nothing to do with Hardware。 。。。more

Basil Dobrev ，

Amazing

Gigi ，

A very interesting straight economic look at Surveillance Capitalism — I wish he stuck to the point more clearly as it’s best when it’s focused and clear。 The second person point of view doesn’t work， at all。 I rarely say that。 Needed a strong edit to cut a lot。 The diagrams at the back were really interesting and helped with conceptualising。 Rough。

Andrei Sebastian Cîmpean ，

This is a very interesting book。 It captures some of my impressions and feelings about the world in relation to tech and presents it in a very coherent way。However， I think the ending is very bad。 It almost ruins the book for me。 I don't understand how someone so coherent can come up with that ultra socialist + ancient greek democracy thing。 This is a very interesting book。 It captures some of my impressions and feelings about the world in relation to tech and presents it in a very coherent way。However， I think the ending is very bad。 It almost ruins the book for me。 I don't understand how someone so coherent can come up with that ultra socialist + ancient greek democracy thing。 。。。more

Lars K ，

big if true

Misrab ，

Some interesting ideas about the evolution of capitalism and recent economic trends。 Occasionally a bit wishy-washy， but overall a good read。 My favorite bits were on how the 2008 crash led to QE that led not to investment but asset bubbles and presumably large tech monopolies。

Anthony Fawkes ，

Mostly an excellent and thought provoking book with some minor flaws。

Cristian Cristea ，

I guess I will never be tired of reading a Varoufakis book。 This one comes as my favorite so far， even better than Another Now。 Comprehensive， logical， realistic it shows the world as it is， while reiterating how it could be（ the theory already exposed in Another Now which is not sufficiently discussed）。 The world moved on from Capitalism when power was no longer held by those holding capital but by a new race of feudalists the technofeudalists。 They extract rents from the capitalist vassals who I guess I will never be tired of reading a Varoufakis book。 This one comes as my favorite so far， even better than Another Now。 Comprehensive， logical， realistic it shows the world as it is， while reiterating how it could be（ the theory already exposed in Another Now which is not sufficiently discussed）。 The world moved on from Capitalism when power was no longer held by those holding capital but by a new race of feudalists the technofeudalists。 They extract rents from the capitalist vassals who need them to access markets and are supported by all of us， cloud serfs creating value for them for free， without even realizing。 This is a book that should be read by everyone trying to understand where do we come from， how the world works and where we are heading。 Everything is explained simply， in plain English with no jargon。 Together with Talking to my Daughter， are books to be shelved into must read section。 。。。more

Greg ，

This book is full of interesting ideas。 I think the author is onto something but alas I don't know enough about economics to fully grasp his arguments。 I agree with him that capitalism as we know it is being replaced with a very different new economic system based on the cloud which he calls technofeudalism which is very unstable and probably unsustainable in the long run。 He proposes a new economic system in his last chapter which I didn't understand at all。 This book is full of interesting ideas。 I think the author is onto something but alas I don't know enough about economics to fully grasp his arguments。 I agree with him that capitalism as we know it is being replaced with a very different new economic system based on the cloud which he calls technofeudalism which is very unstable and probably unsustainable in the long run。 He proposes a new economic system in his last chapter which I didn't understand at all。 。。。more

T ，

Lots to think about here。 Not sure if I’ll write a full review or not， and I’m also unsure to what extent I agree with Varoufakis’ thesis。 Either way， this is going to be an important read for people thinking about political economy

Hamish ，

The ideas explored are in line with a lot of his previous work and bring into frame the idea of cloud capital and its impacts on capitalism。 The return of the renter class and its impacts on the lubricant of capitalism （profits） is really interesting and has helped bring together a lot of thoughts and ideas shared by anyone versed in contemporary macroeconomics。All the ideas are explored in an intuitive fashion， and the book is written extremely well。 The appendix and notes are essential if your The ideas explored are in line with a lot of his previous work and bring into frame the idea of cloud capital and its impacts on capitalism。 The return of the renter class and its impacts on the lubricant of capitalism （profits） is really interesting and has helped bring together a lot of thoughts and ideas shared by anyone versed in contemporary macroeconomics。All the ideas are explored in an intuitive fashion， and the book is written extremely well。 The appendix and notes are essential if your economic history isn't up to scratch and /or if you need context。 The book explores the expanding world of e-commerce and the concentration of market places being limited to the big boys， i。e。， Amazon， eBay， Alibaba， etc。 And argues that their monopolisation is leading to a class who sell goods on these platforms having a slice of their profits taken for the privilege to use their services （rent）。 This suppresses future aggregate demand as money printed by CBs is being funnelled into rent rather than the dynasism and entrepreneurship that fuelled capitalism for so long 。 Due to the nature of these platforms， even business owners who utilise these services have become serfs， along with piece rate workers on pittance delivering for the all-consuming machine。 Geopolitics is covered， and anything said in this review doesn't scratch the surface of the ideas explored。 I emphasise to anyone slightly intrigued to pick up this book。 It explains a lot of the chaos since 2008 and gives a compelling argument for the trajectory of capitalism's transformation into techno feudalism。 This is another certified Yani hood classic 。。。more

Stratos Moustakas ，

One part history lesson， one part polemic， and， as always， a bit of showmanship， with a threadbare socioeconomic fantasy in the end that makes me wonder if Yanis should spend some time in the rationalist community fora。 Now that he's done with puny parliamentary politics （as they're done with him）， he might emerge as the moonshot dreamer the big tech era needs。 One part history lesson， one part polemic， and， as always， a bit of showmanship， with a threadbare socioeconomic fantasy in the end that makes me wonder if Yanis should spend some time in the rationalist community fora。 Now that he's done with puny parliamentary politics （as they're done with him）， he might emerge as the moonshot dreamer the big tech era needs。 。。。more

Tag

    technofeudalism what killed capitalism technofeudalism what killed capitalism pdf technofeudalism what killed capitalism review technofeudalism what killed capitalism by yanis varoufakis technofeudalism what killed capitalism epub

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0