Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

Imagine a cold winter night centuries ago, a warm fireplace glowing softly in a humble home. A father carefully introduces his child to the magic of metals — tin melting easily, bronze glowing orange, but iron, the true marvel, transforming into hardened steel through a mysterious process of heating and quenching. This simple yet profound lesson is the foundation of a story that spans millennia: how the mastery of iron’s magic accelerated human history, transforming societies from slow-moving Bronze Age cultures into dynamic Iron Age civilizations. Iron’s hardening was not just a physical transformation of metal; it symbolized the dual nature of power — tangible and intangible — that would come to define capitalism.

At the heart of capitalism lies a similar duality, but this time in labor and capital. Labor is not just the hours worked for a wage — the commodity labor — but also the passion, creativity, and sweat that workers pour into their tasks — the experiential labor. This experiential labor cannot be bought or sold; it is the secret source of profit, the invisible engine that breathes life into commodities. Employers pay for time, but the true value comes from the unpaid effort and inspiration that workers contribute freely, unknowingly enriching capitalists.

Capital itself shares this dual nature. It is both a physical thing — tools, machines, buildings — and a force, a social power that commands labor and resources. The transition from feudalism to capitalism was essentially a shift of this commanding power from landowners to owners of capital goods. This shift was made possible by the enclosure movement, which deprived peasants of autonomous access to land, forcing them to sell their labor to capitalists. Capital’s power to command reshaped social relations, enabling the rise of the capitalist class and the birth of a new economic order.

These foundational insights about labor and capital set the stage for understanding capitalism’s evolution and eventual transformation. They remind us that beneath the machinery of markets and wages lies a complex web of social relations and contradictions, where freedom and exploitation coexist in uneasy tension. As we journey forward, we will see how these dualities have been challenged and reshaped by technological revolutions and financial upheavals, leading us toward a new era.

Let us now turn to the remarkable transformations capitalism underwent in the twentieth century, as new technologies and organizational structures remade the economy and society.