#cloud capital

[thethirdman8]

Yanis Varoufakis explains the insane US foreign policy towards China.

[greatprinceofabraham]

#eastasiarise

#YanisVaroufakis "a Greek economist, author & former finance minister of Greece, known for his outspoken critiques of #austerity & #neoliberal economic policies" describes #cloudcapital as producing only virtually to capture public zeitgeist

https://youtu.be/hMjLaTiY0vA?si=SUMjAPENgMsOEN3q

[antmanboogaloo]

Cloud Capital vs. Deep Seek

Technofeudalism, Capitalism and the New Cold War.

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[davidmalcolm]

Cloud Capital

FINANCE AND COMMERCE

According to some commentators, wealth, having moved from the feudal period, when the emphasis was on land ownership and wealth from this ownership was provided by rents in various forms and servitude to the lords of the manors, to the capitalist period when the emphasis was on industrial production and the means of production, profit, the buying and selling of shares and capital in companies, buying and selling of goods in markets, the provision of wages, economies of scale and addition of benefit, to the period where we are quickly moving into, that of cloud capitalism, which, in fact is less of a capitalist system and more of a return to feudalism.

Some defining attributes of this new economic model is that the oligarchs who control it tend to produce nothing of huge physical significance (for example goods) themselves but charge fees in the form of rents and or subscriptions for the use of their virtual services. The real estate is virtual and takes the form of platforms or virtual marketplaces.

The seller fees that, for example, Amazon charge are referral fees (introduction of a buyer to a seller), seller account fees and shipping/fulfilment fees. There can be other optional charges for product storage, advertising & promotion, financing. Amazon have buyer/subscriber fees also, such as Amazon Prime which ensures quicker and usually free delivery, and ancillary subscription based services such as music and film streaming services.

The different operating models of vehicle producing companies such as Tesla and Volkswagen highlight the main differences between traditional capitalist and cloud capital enterprises.

Volkswagen is built on a heavily capitalised business producing profitable products and services. Investment is private and public and designed to give investors a return on the capital they provide. Public companies' shares are bought and sold in international trading houses providing opportunities for capital to invest and provide income. Buyers are largely asked to purchase goods and services at point of sale through cash or finance (loans and or leasing plans).

Tesla customers 'invest' in the business by placing a deposit or committing to a finance scheme. Buying into the Tesla brand gives some benefits to the user such as dedicated charging stations when on a journey. The Tesla car is almost like a computer on wheels with enhanced features such as automatic navigation and hands free driving. The emphasis is on the software rather than the hardware: electric vehicles are much more simple that traditional internal combustion engined ones. In Tesla cars, their connectivity is constant.

Running in parallel with this is cryptocurrency, the possibility of purely digital banks and complete extinction of bricks and mortar banks and building societies, and possibly stock markets, the potential of AI to replace many occupations, the removal of the wage earning job and certainly the 9-5.

There are also anxieties around how the above developments will affect the individual and society, and insecurities surrounding global health, food security, energy security, the effects of climate change and political, economic and military upheavals with associated massive scale migration.

WARFARE

Access to technology and the monopolisation and control of information technology can lend huge leverage in conflict situations. During WWII, Britain realised that the Luftwaffe were utilising radio navigation for night bombing missions. Until their blitzkrieg on Britain ended when they launched Operation Barbarossa, British military intelligence and the Air Ministry devised means of jamming and 'bending' these signals causing the bombing missions to miss their intended targets.

The modern equivalent is SatNav, an American development. During the military operations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the early 1990s, the Pentagon managed to tweak SatNav technology to provide accuracy to within 3 metres. This provided the US and allied forces with enormous advantages in military planning of the initial and subsequent conflicts in the middle east. Saddam's regime did try to jam some GPS signals but the US destroyed the jamming apparatus. GPS provided a huge advantage over previous surveillance systems such as radar and visual observation and being a largely American technology, gives them huge advantage over any potential adversaries. Enemy movements could now be accurately assessed, precision given to weapons' targeting and avoidance of friendly fire was enhanced. Saddam's fibre cable network which operated outside of GPS and was used to control his missile arsenal was sabotaged by the coalition forces. As a result of this, other countries have been developing their own GPS systems: India developed a regional system called NavIC. Russia has GLONASS, which, with China's BEIDOU, comes closest to the US SatNav system as does the European Union's GALILEO system. Japan has QZSS which requires development but has the promise of reaching SatNav functionality as it develops.

[6r4nko]