for - key insight - neoliberalism and industrial capitalism were based on Descarte and our separation from the natural world - Post Capitalist Philanthropy Webinar 1 - Alnoor Ladha - Lynn Murphy - 2023 - adjacency - materialism, science and neoliberalism - will technology save us? - Post Capitalist Philanthropy Webinar 1 - Alnoor Ladha - Lynn Murphy - 2023 - to - The Three Great Separations

key insight / summary - neoliberalism and industrial capitalism were based on Descarte and our separation from the natural world - Post Capitalist Philanthropy Webinar 1 - Alnoor Ladha - Lynn Murphy - 2023 - FIrst, Descarte separated the mind from the body. We have the paradox of: - godlike mind housed in - animalistic bodies - (incidentally, this sets us up for the exageration of the existential crisis of the denial of death in modernity - Ernest Becker) - Then we impose separation of external vs internal world - Then, we have separate categories of mind and nature, and we begin othering of: - women - other (indigenous) cultures - What Alnoor and Lynn forgot to mention was that there is another separation that preceded the industrial revolution, the separation of people into distinct classes of: - producer - consumer - Then with the advance of Newtonian physics and the wild success of materialist theory applied to create a plethora of industrial technologies, a wedding occurred between: - dualism and - materialism - Materialism decomposes everything into subatomic particles that a rational mind can understand - To those who think science and technology can save us from the crisis it helped create - the deeper understanding reveals that science and technology are themselves agents of separation.

to - See the three great separations - https://hyp.is/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Finthesetimes.com%2Farticle%2Findustrial-agricultural-revolution-planet-earth-david-korten&group=world

Ongweso Jr., Edward. “The Miseducation of Kara Swisher: Soul-Searching with the Tech ‘Journalist.’” The Baffler, March 29, 2024. https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-miseducation-of-kara-swisher-ongweso.

ᔥ[[Pete Brown]] in Exploding Comma

• for: corporate power, technology - capitalism, capitalism - exploitation, Danah Boyd, progress trap
• paraphrase
• quote
  • technology in the U.S. is caught up in American late-stage (or financialized) capitalism
    • where profitability isn’t the goal;
    • perpetual return on investment is.
  • Given this, the tools that we’re seeing developed by corporations
  • reinforce capitalist agendas.
  • Innovation will require pushing past this capitalist infrastructure to achieve the social benefits and civic innovation that will work in the United States.
  • China is a whole other ball of wax.
  • If you want to go there, follow up with me. But pay attention to Taobao centers.
  • We haven’t hit peak awful yet.
  • I have every confidence that social and civic innovation can be beneficial in the long run
    • with a caveat that I think that climate change dynamics might ruin all of that
  • but no matter what, I don’t think we’re going to see significant positive change by 2030.
  • I think things are going to get much worse before they start to get better.
  • I should also note that I don’t think that many players have taken responsibility for what’s unfolding. -Yes, tech companies are starting to see that things might be a problem,
    • but that’s only on the surface. -News media does not at all acknowledge its role in amplifying discord,
    • or its financialized dynamics.
  • The major financiers of this economy don’t take any responsibility for what’s unfolding. Etc.
• author: Dana Boyd
  • principal researcher, Microsoft Research
  • founder, Data & Society

I can't help but wonder at the direct link here to Amazon with an affiliate link. I won't fault them completely for it, but for a site that is so critical of the ills of educational technology, and care for their students and community, the exposure to surveillance capitalism expressed here seems to go beyond their own pale. I would have expected more care here.

Surely there are other platforms that this volume is available from?

In retrospect, the dynamic I'm addressing here is bascially My Whole Shit. That is - one of (if not the) primary forces that have compelled The Psalms.

This is a solid example of the sort of rose colored glasses too many had for technology in the early 2000s.

Was this instance just before the tech bubble collapsed too?

What was the state of surveillance capitalism at this point?

https://edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/lifting-the-mask

Even Heraclitus knew that one couldn't stand in the same river twice.

Sometimes I forget how funny The Register can be. This is terrific.

Platform capitalism, digital technology, and the future of work

Whether or not the gig economy is here to stay, the result will be widespread un- or under-employment caused by technological displacement. Whether workers are gathered into a gig economy or are outright unemployed is what remains to be seen.