Capitalism with a Transhuman Face: The Afterlife of Fascism and the Digital Frontier

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Ana Teixeira Pinto
The most salient feature of the far-right movement, which became known as the alt-right, is its relation with IT rather than with the diminished expectations of the post-industrial working class. The ethos of the tech industry transmogrified in recent years, shifting from the market-besotted optimism championed by Bill Gates to the digital feudalism represented by Bay Area neoreactionaries and cybermonarchists. The article argues that this points to a new configuration of fascist ideology taking shape under the aegis of, and working in tandem with, neoliberal governance. If every rise of fascism bears witness to a failed revolution (a thought attributed to Walter Benjamin but as an elision of his arguments), the rise of cryptofascist tendencies within the tech industry bears witness to the failures of the ‘digital revolution’ whose promises of a post-scarcity economy and socialised capital never came to pass. From this perspective, it is proposed, the online cultural wars are a proxy for a greater battle around de-Westernisation, imperialism and white hegemony.
Original languageEnglish
JournalThird Text
Volume33
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)315-336
Number of pages22
ISSN0952-8822
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.05.2019
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Ana Teixeira Pinto, Fascism, de-Westernisation, alt-right, AI, whiteness, libidinal economy, cyberlibertarianism, digital economy
  • Science of art