Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism has evolved into technofeudalism

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Broadcast on February 20, 2024

#davidpakmanshow #yanisvaroufakis #technofeudalism

[storm]

Yanis is a very insightful leftist. Any progressive would be well served by familiarizing yourself with his works. Thanks for bringing him on Pakman.

[James-gqtb]

We need stronger anti trust laws and to invest in small businesses to redistribute the means of production out of the hands of just a few people.
we also need to create vacancy taxes and a progressive residential property tax system that increases the greater the amount of residential properties you own. This encourages rent and housing prices to drop

[johnny-wild]

David, I love your conversations with Yanis. Your dynamic together leads to succinct, grounded, and clarifying conversations of his concepts. I'd love to see you two tackle more involved topics together!
- Johnny from Long Island, NY

[garycpriestley]

This guy has always been a pleasure to listen to - he informs, educates and inspires. Great guest!

[paskowitz]

I've been following Yanis since he designed the in game economies of DOTA and Counter Strike. He's is probably the most intelligent and grounded leftist (in the EU sense, not the US conservative view of anyone who is a Democrat) economist out there.

[omarose]

I've read his new book on Technofeudalism and Yanis is exactly right in his perception and analysis. For old people it is just a matter of time to be relieved of the effects of Cloud Capitalism, but for the younger world it is life changing for all time and future generations. There is always a balance to keep in mind between a thing which can be used for the good or the bad. We will all need to keep this in mind - always.

[sspbrazil]

At least someone is having Yanis on their show, the other channels I watch have basically ignored him.

[Marxistmark]

It was obvious that David had not read Yanis' new book about techno-feudalism. I hope he does and has Yanis back on with better questions. That being said, I appreciate that David exposed Yanis to his large audience again.

[vmacart]

techofeudalism describes it perfectly! thank you!

[onepartyroule]

It’s great to see Yanis back on the show.

[misterqreturns]

WHAT; A; BANGER, thank you both this was a great collab.

[johndemeritt]

David, I don't see anything particularly new here: this is merely an application of Marx's classic analysis of the capitalist system under conditions of modern technology. It would be appropriate to say that this is merely a third phase of capitalism. In the first phase, factory owners were the profiteers and shared a portion of the profits they made from industrialization with a cadre of people who helped them finance the new factories. The second phase, which I've lived through, is the managerial phase. In this managerial phase, increasing complexity of corporations and their operations required more managers and supporting organizations: we have Human Resource departments to manage a growing workforce working with increasingly complex technologies. This requires more capital, but instead of going to a small number of relatively wealthy people, this phase of capitalism requires a larger pool of capital. Hence, a larger number of people with less money are encouraged to pool their money into a joint venture that buys a group of stocks and bonds. These groups are "mutual funds", which can raise large amounts of capital, but require a relatively large number of people to manage the growth of the funds.

The "technofeudal" phase of capitalism isn't really very different from previous phases. What is different is the ability of machines -- or, more properly, data processing devices -- to displace workers AND managers from positions in the workplaces they used to occupy. It's not that markets have been eliminated: it's that they've adapted to the data processing and communications technologies that have evolved over the last seven decades. In many places, physical markets still exist; however, the goods and services offered can be more readily accessed and delivered because of the data and communication systems that now exist.

This, as I say, is merely an extension of Marx's analysis of capitalism. This "technofeudal" capitalism is exactly what we should expect. But if you want some really useful projections about the futures of human economies, contact Dr. Andy Hines at University of Houston's Foresight program. For the better part of a decade (or more), Andy and his students have collaborated on how a whole range of factors might be producing economic systems that truly are different from the capitalism of today and the past four centuries. Ask about the After Capitalism project -- and tell 'em J. P. sent you!

[elektraantoniadou]

Giannis and David... I absolutely love you both
Mr. Varoufakis is incredible with words and research, but he did an awful service to Greece as a minister, he chose a confrontational attitude towards the EU and the investors, which backfired. But we have to admit he wasn't supported by his own government either
He is more of a legend abroad than in his own country. He has my respect (plus, as a sidenote, he is a totally cool guy, I saw him once on his motorbike on a hill in Athens, I think he had a dog with him, very easy-going, completely alternative un-politicians' profile). Love from Greece

[Mbonic]

Great guest!! You should talk more often! Yanis is amazing

[LeadSurge]

*YEARS ago, I would get sales calls from the bastards at Zillow at my real estate Brokerage asking for me to post my home listings there, & I would say to them "I'll consider it only after you pay me for the content that MY OFFICE is creating for YOUR PLATFORM!" They usually saw the light & would give up & end the call conceding that I was making sense. Yes, Yanis is correct. Whenever we create monetizable content, we're making money FOR THEM FOR FREE!* 🤔

[fishbone]

Thank you. That was really interesting.

[urbanfacts]

For first time I get what yanis means by technofeudalism. Here he explains it way more clear. And wow, it sounds dangerous.

[toranderson]

SHOCKED to see David inviting REAL Leftists

[Creslin]

I totally get the parallel between feudal lords owning land, and serfs working the land, and Google (lord) owning YouTube, and content creators (serfs) creating content for YouTube. In both cases, the “lord” takes a tax out of the “serf’s” earnings.

But I think the analogy breaks down a bit when you consider that all of the really bad things that we associate with feudalism aren’t really present with technofeudalism.

In feudalism, serfs were pretty much forced to work. They either worked the land, or they died. There was no where else to go, and the lord owned everything around them. The lord could also impose whatever tax they wanted, and there was basically nothing the serf could do to contest it. In addition, if the lord controlled the entire security apparatus, so if they wanted to abuse their serfs, once again, nothing you could do about it.

In the end, serfs effectively lived as slaves even if they technically weren’t. I don’t really think you can say the same of a content creator on YouTube or a door dash driver.

[sputnikmoonchild]

David, you have the most fascinating discussions on YouTube!