Today’s form of capitalism is organized on principles of information and communication, the domain of what used to be called “cybernetics”. At work as well as in our free time, we merge with our computers, networks, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. What does it mean to live under this regime of cybernetic capitalism?

In the era of cybernetic capitalism, managers have reimagined the workplace itself as a giant cybernetic machine, while neoliberal ideologues likened markets to information processors. It radically changed how our economy is governed, as technocrats scramble to design its algorithm. Today, the struggle over control of society’s code threatens to grow more violent, as Silicon Valley oligarchs collude with “conspiritualist” political movements. Following the publication of his new book Cybernetic Capitalism: A Critical Theory of the Incommunicable, philosopher Jan Overwijk further explores the complex politics of our time with media scholar Daniël de Zeeuw, literary scholar and cultural theorist Michael F. Millerc, and cultural theorist and philosopher of science Iris van der Tuin. Poet Maxime Garcia Diaz will provide an online intermezzo Moderation: Jasmijn Leeuwenkamp. 

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