Lorenzo d’Auria
Ricercatore indipendente (lorenzo.dauria@ymail.com; ORCID: 0000-0002-2254- 2573).
On the Perverse Connection Between Economic and Cognitive Abstraction
Abstract: We are witnessing a symbiotic relationship between two self-accretion processes: the accumulation of capital, on one side, and the accumulation of knowledge, on the other. Both have a similar underlying structure: an abstract pole assumes a dominant role over a concrete pole; in both cases, the abstract side subsumes and uses the concrete one for its ends; it becomes (as taught by Marx in Capital) the true subject of a system capable of potentially unlimited growth. In the case of capital, the abstract pole is exchange value; the concrete one is use value. For knowledge production, the equivalent categories are codified knowledge (the abstract pole) and contextual knowledge (the concrete one). Historically, the claim is that while the accumulation of knowledge and the accumulation of capital have begun to expand in unison only recently, they have existed independently for centuries. Knowledge accumulation, in particular, dates back to the scientific revolution and, in a germinal form, to the first intellectual endeavours in ancient Greek city-states. Only very recently (since the 1970s) have capital and knowledge started to expand in unison. The triggers were the introduction of microprocessors in all spheres of production and the simultaneous rise of a new mental labour force. A mutual dependency has thus been established between capital and knowledge production, with a compounding tendency towards monopolization in both areas. After 50 years, this DNA-like expansion of two independent but connected spirals foreshadows the concrete risk of techno-feudal outcomes and artificially produced fictitious knowledge.
Keywords: Codified Knowledge; Marx; Techno-Feudalism; Artificial Intelligence; Knowledge Accumulation.