Skybird
01-15-23, 03:51 PM
Die Welt has this, and I do not like what it says, for I see more freedom for abuse than for positive gain. Abuse in this context will have more totalitarian centralism and control as well as pressure for conformity and destruction of individual liberty as consequences:
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The "sixth cycle" has already begun
Politicians like to talk about the "turn of the times." But the real upheaval in the West is hardly ever discussed: With the decline of industrial society, a completely new order is emerging. Economic historians speak of the "sixth cycle" - and predict a break with freedom and democracy.
We live in times of upheaval. Corona measures, crisis and war leave little doubt. In politics and the media, talk of the "turn of the times" has become commonplace. Following in the footsteps of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently called for a "turnaround in financial and economic policy. Unsurprisingly, "turning point" became the word of the past year.
Before that, Andrea Komlosy had already completed the manuscript for her new book. The title: "Zeitenwende. Corona: Big Data and the Cybernetic Future," although academics are traditionally rather reticent about such diagnoses of the present. But the Austrian historian is looking for the big picture.
An associate professor at the University of Vienna's Institute of Economic and Social History until last fall, Komlosy is now retired. A few years ago, she entered the public eye with books like "Global History" and "Labor: A Global Historical Perspective from the 13th to the 21st Century." She's used to spanning large arcs from agrarian society to the digital economy, as she tells it. Or to grasp the rise and fall of great trading and economic empires in the sober terms of economic laws. The scientific distance helps to take a new look at our own present.
Even before a virus called Corona becomes known in faraway China, Komlosy is concerned with possible developments in Western industrial societies. Or more precisely: post-industrial societies. For Komlosy, it is clear that the industrial age in the West is over. The crisis of 1973 already heralded this change, which deeply shook the counterparts USA and USSR. After all, the USA can still rely on the financial industry. This reminds Komlosy of the decline of the trading metropolises of Genoa and Venice in the 16th century or the Dutch Empire in the 18th century. The Soviet economy, on the other hand, is crumbling; after the "shock therapy," all that remains are valuable raw materials and a huge military apparatus.
Time and again, economic cycles come to an end, Komlosy explains. Then something new must come, even if it is not yet clear what that might be. Komlosy refers to the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, who speaks of "creative destruction." One of his major works is called "Business Cycles," and there Schumpeter refers to the "long waves of the business cycle" of the Russian economist Nicolai Kondratieff. According to Kondratieff, five major cycles can be identified since the 18th century, each of which includes leading sectors and technologies such as steel and railroads or petrochemicals and automobiles. Komlosy - like other researchers - argues that we are currently experiencing the beginning of a sixth cycle.
But what does this mean? Komlosy explains that the age of self-regulating systems has dawned, the cybernetic age, which will be established in the West from 2030. In China, they are pursuing the same project. To perfect control, you need data. To get data, you need to access bodies. Digital, smart and green are the keywords of this change. Renewed digital capitalism is promoted as a "green alternative." Komlosy refers to the ideas of the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab's "The Great Reset." This "Great Reset" is not a backroom affair; it is discussed publicly by the WEF. In general, he says, one must look at structures, not individuals. "There can be no talk of a general plan," says Komlosy.
In the face of new facts, old certainties sometimes don't help. Among leftists in particular, this is difficult - with a few exceptions. For example, the New York-based theorist McKenzie Wark, who became known for "The Hacker Manifesto," already posed the heretical question in 2019 in "Capital is Dead" whether we have long since stopped living under capitalism - but in a system that threatens to get worse. Economic historian Adam Tooze writes in his book "World in Lockdown" that even before Corona it was clear that 2020 and the following years would be tumultuous. A recession of global proportions was looming, and the financial system in particular was showing itself to be ailing. From all sides, it cries for change.
For Komlosy - and here she connects her global-historical perspective with the immediate political present - the state Corona measures in their concrete form were the expression of these great changes - and their accelerator. Contact bans, contact tracking, QR-code access restrictions, proof of health and vaccination status, online communication, and home offices have all shown Komlosy, on the one hand, to go hand in hand with an unprecedented change in political forms that makes many people uncomfortable. "These changes break with the values of civic freedom and civic democracy," she says. On the other hand, she revealed that the cybernetic future will take place in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medicine and biotechnology.
Her theory is speculative, Komlosy admits. Based on what can be known, she attempts a Schumpeter- and Kondratieff-backed prediction for what is to come. The G-20 summit in Bali at the end of last year could speak for her theses. There, there was agreement to move forward with a global health policy, especially with regard to combating future epidemics. Digital vaccination passports and the expansion of mRNA research were discussed, although the final declaration remained rather general in tone. Corona "accelerated the transformation of the digital ecosystem and digital economy," it said. Some of the time will remain or perpetuate. Just these days, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced his intention to turn the Corona warning app into a "general app." What that will mean is still unclear.
"What the new world in formation will look like has not yet been determined," Komlosy says. What is certain is that, under the banner of global challenges - pandemics, environmental degradation - it is primarily about the problems of a global mode of production. But profound social conflicts are emerging. Komlosy speaks of dropout and parallel societies of the weary who still have memories of the analog world - a scenario like in Alain Damasio's science fiction bestseller "The Fugitives." There, a completely digitally captured world is divided into different zones, leading to civil war. "Those who have not internalized the world of digital capitalism may feel repelled," Komlosy says. That's the way it is with turning times.
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I forsee a global rule of fascist-like social order and fascist political control&power mechanisms.
-----------------------
The "sixth cycle" has already begun
Politicians like to talk about the "turn of the times." But the real upheaval in the West is hardly ever discussed: With the decline of industrial society, a completely new order is emerging. Economic historians speak of the "sixth cycle" - and predict a break with freedom and democracy.
We live in times of upheaval. Corona measures, crisis and war leave little doubt. In politics and the media, talk of the "turn of the times" has become commonplace. Following in the footsteps of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently called for a "turnaround in financial and economic policy. Unsurprisingly, "turning point" became the word of the past year.
Before that, Andrea Komlosy had already completed the manuscript for her new book. The title: "Zeitenwende. Corona: Big Data and the Cybernetic Future," although academics are traditionally rather reticent about such diagnoses of the present. But the Austrian historian is looking for the big picture.
An associate professor at the University of Vienna's Institute of Economic and Social History until last fall, Komlosy is now retired. A few years ago, she entered the public eye with books like "Global History" and "Labor: A Global Historical Perspective from the 13th to the 21st Century." She's used to spanning large arcs from agrarian society to the digital economy, as she tells it. Or to grasp the rise and fall of great trading and economic empires in the sober terms of economic laws. The scientific distance helps to take a new look at our own present.
Even before a virus called Corona becomes known in faraway China, Komlosy is concerned with possible developments in Western industrial societies. Or more precisely: post-industrial societies. For Komlosy, it is clear that the industrial age in the West is over. The crisis of 1973 already heralded this change, which deeply shook the counterparts USA and USSR. After all, the USA can still rely on the financial industry. This reminds Komlosy of the decline of the trading metropolises of Genoa and Venice in the 16th century or the Dutch Empire in the 18th century. The Soviet economy, on the other hand, is crumbling; after the "shock therapy," all that remains are valuable raw materials and a huge military apparatus.
Time and again, economic cycles come to an end, Komlosy explains. Then something new must come, even if it is not yet clear what that might be. Komlosy refers to the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, who speaks of "creative destruction." One of his major works is called "Business Cycles," and there Schumpeter refers to the "long waves of the business cycle" of the Russian economist Nicolai Kondratieff. According to Kondratieff, five major cycles can be identified since the 18th century, each of which includes leading sectors and technologies such as steel and railroads or petrochemicals and automobiles. Komlosy - like other researchers - argues that we are currently experiencing the beginning of a sixth cycle.
But what does this mean? Komlosy explains that the age of self-regulating systems has dawned, the cybernetic age, which will be established in the West from 2030. In China, they are pursuing the same project. To perfect control, you need data. To get data, you need to access bodies. Digital, smart and green are the keywords of this change. Renewed digital capitalism is promoted as a "green alternative." Komlosy refers to the ideas of the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab's "The Great Reset." This "Great Reset" is not a backroom affair; it is discussed publicly by the WEF. In general, he says, one must look at structures, not individuals. "There can be no talk of a general plan," says Komlosy.
In the face of new facts, old certainties sometimes don't help. Among leftists in particular, this is difficult - with a few exceptions. For example, the New York-based theorist McKenzie Wark, who became known for "The Hacker Manifesto," already posed the heretical question in 2019 in "Capital is Dead" whether we have long since stopped living under capitalism - but in a system that threatens to get worse. Economic historian Adam Tooze writes in his book "World in Lockdown" that even before Corona it was clear that 2020 and the following years would be tumultuous. A recession of global proportions was looming, and the financial system in particular was showing itself to be ailing. From all sides, it cries for change.
For Komlosy - and here she connects her global-historical perspective with the immediate political present - the state Corona measures in their concrete form were the expression of these great changes - and their accelerator. Contact bans, contact tracking, QR-code access restrictions, proof of health and vaccination status, online communication, and home offices have all shown Komlosy, on the one hand, to go hand in hand with an unprecedented change in political forms that makes many people uncomfortable. "These changes break with the values of civic freedom and civic democracy," she says. On the other hand, she revealed that the cybernetic future will take place in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medicine and biotechnology.
Her theory is speculative, Komlosy admits. Based on what can be known, she attempts a Schumpeter- and Kondratieff-backed prediction for what is to come. The G-20 summit in Bali at the end of last year could speak for her theses. There, there was agreement to move forward with a global health policy, especially with regard to combating future epidemics. Digital vaccination passports and the expansion of mRNA research were discussed, although the final declaration remained rather general in tone. Corona "accelerated the transformation of the digital ecosystem and digital economy," it said. Some of the time will remain or perpetuate. Just these days, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced his intention to turn the Corona warning app into a "general app." What that will mean is still unclear.
"What the new world in formation will look like has not yet been determined," Komlosy says. What is certain is that, under the banner of global challenges - pandemics, environmental degradation - it is primarily about the problems of a global mode of production. But profound social conflicts are emerging. Komlosy speaks of dropout and parallel societies of the weary who still have memories of the analog world - a scenario like in Alain Damasio's science fiction bestseller "The Fugitives." There, a completely digitally captured world is divided into different zones, leading to civil war. "Those who have not internalized the world of digital capitalism may feel repelled," Komlosy says. That's the way it is with turning times.
--------------------------
I forsee a global rule of fascist-like social order and fascist political control&power mechanisms.