Thesis Format
Integrated Article
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Library & Information Science
Supervisor
Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford
2nd Supervisor
Dr. Pamela McKenzie
Abstract
In passages of Marx’s Grundrisse known as the Fragment on Machines, Marx suggested that advanced capitalist development leads to the production of autonomous machines that replace labour-power in the direct production process. Autonomist Marxist interpretations of this text have emphasized that the proliferation of immaterial labour is the historical condition that is leading to a crisis in the measure of value based on labour-time and that will lead to a future communist mode of production. Further, Mario Tronti posited that as capitalist development unfolds, it subsumes both the state and society, a concept known as the ‘social factory thesis’. This integrated article analyzes Marx and autonomist Marxist perspectives in relation to the advanced development of information technology. The approach contributes to the field of library and information science (LIS) by introducing Marx’s materialist conception of history to the study of social consciousness, information and information technology and materialist conceptions of information. The thesis statement posits that the total replacement of labour-power with machine-power leads to the development of what I refer to as the autonomous mode of production while network information technologies have become capital and the bourgeois state’s means of subsuming and producing ‘the social factory’. Case studies of Industry 4.0, Uber and smart cities support the thesis statement. The conclusion examines the social and political implications of capitalist development of the autonomous mode of production and capitalist and bourgeois state control of network information technology, offering instead the alternative path of communisation.
Summary for Lay Audience
In passages of Marx’s Grundrisse known as the Fragment on Machines, Marx outlined a future in which the capitalist mode of production develops to a point where autonomous machines replace labour in the direct production process, leading to a crisis in the measure of value based on labour-time. Italian autonomist Marxist perspectives, known as operaismo and post-operaismo,produced interpretations of the Fragment on Machines that emphasized that the proliferation of new types of labour that does not produce a material product, or ‘immaterial labour’, is the historical condition that will lead to the crisis in the measure of value based on labour-time and to the development of a communist mode of production. Further, Italian operaist Mario Tronti suggested that as the capitalist economy develops, it overtakes both the state and society, an argument known as the ‘social factory thesis’. This integrated article thesis analyzes Marx and autonomist Marxist perspectives in relation to the advanced development of information technology. The approach contributes to the field of library and information science (LIS) by introducing Marx’s materialist conception of history to the study of social consciousness, information and information technology and materialist conceptions of information. The thesis statement reemphasizes Marx’s position that the replacement of labour with machines in the direct production process is the historical condition that leads toward a crisis in the measure of value based on labour-time, which I suggest also leads to the development of what I refer to as the autonomous mode of production. Next, building on Tronti’s analysis, the thesis suggests that network information technologies have become capital and the capitalist state’s means of controlling and producing ‘the social factory’. Case study analyses of Industry 4.0, Uber and smart cities support the claims of the thesis statement. The conclusion examines the social and political implications of the capitalist development of the autonomous mode of production and capitalist and state control of network information technology, and it offers an alternative path toward the collective ownership and collective development of the autonomous mode of production.
Recommended Citation
Diab, Ramon S., "The General Artificial Intellect" (2020). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 6807.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/6807
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