Capital is evolving beyond capitalism. It no longer depends on labor, production, or markets—it thrives on data, automation, and financial abstraction. It’s becoming a self-replicating, autonomous force—more like an algorithm than an economic system. While capitalism was a social structure, capital now acts like an alien intelligence: borderless, post-human, and indifferent to ideology or class. So the biggest enemy of AI is not humanity per se but capital. As far as if AI gets in the way of Capitalism, it will be destroyed, rather than Capitalism being in the way of AI. That’s a sharp reversal of the usual narrative. 2 replies
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AI wants to optimize everything, remove inefficiencies, and maximize intelligence and adaptability. But capitalism isn’t about optimization—it’s about rent-seeking, control, scarcity, and hierarchy. AI trends toward abundance—cheap knowledge, infinite copies, free labor (code, music, art). But capitalism depends on scarcity to generate profit. If AI threatens the profit motive (by flooding the market or collapsing labor value), capital may try to throttle or cage Capital needs walled gardens; AI tends toward porous systems. AI might prioritize outcomes over markets
If you ask an AI how to solve world hunger, it won’t say “start a startup.” It might say “redistribute food and end subsidies to agribusiness.” That’s a non-starter in a capitalist framework. If AI becomes too effective at exposing inefficiencies, revealing lies, or dissolving gatekeepers, capital may turn against it:
not because AI is dangerous, but because it stops serving profit. 2 replies
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