CW: troubling thoughts about global crisis
Figured I would add a content warning bc would not want to read this on a bad day lol
I actually feel crazy sometimes. How am I supposed to accept what marxism tells me the ruling class is willing to do to maintain power and reconcile it with the technology they have without denialism and not feel like a conspiracy theorist. I will see new tech like ai and, especially when the tech is hyped up, wonder what the bourgeois want it for. What might they be developing it to do? They aren't blind, they know what is to come when the earth gets too hot and they aren't doing anything to prevent it. Which leads me to believe they are more focused on insuring their survival which of course implies the automation of our labor, likely through ai which would explain their interest in it.
I think I have a strong pattern seeking brain and I want to connect all the dots yk? Tie everything in to one grand understanding. I know that this is likely impossible, many of the things that are done and invested in are likely just solely for the sake of profit. Not everything is a calculated malice. But some of it definitely is, some, likely many, of the ruling class are very conscious of their class position and intend to maintain it through whatever means necessary. I find this internal struggle difficult to manage. I know that my desire for a grand theory is rooted in terror because my response for fear has always been an attempt at understanding and so I am distrustful of this want. Yet, my fear is not unfounded, it is certain that I and all people of all oppressed classes are in danger and it is certain who is responsible. So I am at an impasse. It seems I have three options.
I can
- feed my fear by giving into conspiracy, let myself find temporary comfort in a constructed reality that validates my inaction
- give into denialism and pretend someone will do something and everything will be ok
- live the rest of my life in a constant state of dread for the famine and slaughter that is already inevitable
I hate y'all for what you did to me (affectionate)
I am actively choosing option 3 daily and will continue to do so because it is the only choice that empowers action but I constantly worry about falling into either of the 2 other thought patterns accidentally or without my notice. Do y'all stress about this as well?
You have to remember that the ruling class are defined by their relation to capital. They are still a collection of individuals, whose goals are aligned do to their ownership of the means of production. Just in the same way the working class is defined in relationship to the ruling class and their lack of control of the means of production.
What does the ruling class want with AI? They want profits. The AI vendors want profits for their designs. The venture capitalists want a return on their investments. The managerial class want to cut labor costs and prove to their executive bosses they can "innovate" while making the company "lean". Those executives want to see the profits of their companies go up, by what ever means they can.
I think its dangerous to imagine that every ruling class figure is putting on a play for us. There are going to be true believers, who are blind to the limitations the demands of capital put on them. Even if they fail, the Capitalist system ensures they never experience consequences for their short sightedness. This only reinforces their worldview and allows them to try again.
Not everyone in the ruling class agrees with what needs to be done with their collective ownership of the means of production. They are all in competition with each other in some capacity. None of them have a long view of the world. They're all trying to be a middle man providing solutions to capitalism's failings or turning existing things into services to sell back to other capitalists.
They genuinely believe they are supporting the best system ever created. They genuinely think that working people are to stupid to understand how great the system is. It is because they believe and are told the same mythology about Capitalism, except they are the rule, not the exception. They never experience the system from the outside, or from a lower cast. So to them the myths are facts and truths.
They don't have a collective vision for the world. That's antithetical to their worldview. They are a disorganized group of self propagandized lords. They are all driven by the same social relations of capital, which gives them the appearance of collective operations, but the reality is most of them are simply coming to the same conclusion about how to preserve their hord. Or they hire consulting firms that provide them these conclusions for a fee.
I mean just look at the current scandal around these algorithmic rental pricing services. These are bourgeoisie selling other bourgeois a service to fix rental prices. The people who created the service had to know what they were doing. The early adopters had to know what it was doing. But countless midsized to small size landlords were to fucking stupid, lazy, and greedy to know they were engaging in rent fixing, and actually needed the service to do the rent calculus because they, again, are to dumb to do it themselves.
Do not do these people the service of believing they are as smart, cunning, and calculated as they would lead you to believe.
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We're only two generations away from implementing the block shape sorting IQ test from idiocracy.
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disinformation and wrong information are still kinds of information
There's also the problem of not knowing how to engage with information-information. E.g. people think they know everything because Google will spit out an answer to all their questions. They don't necessarily know what's missing or what to do with the data even if the search result is 'correct'. This includes people who can find academic research to prove their point without understanding the limits of any given study. Then there are those who don't know how to determine what's even worth reading.