Karl Marx writes the digital manifesto for the technological era
In an exercise of speculative fiction, the figure of Karl Marx returns to dissect the 21st-century economy. 🧐 His focus centers on the profound inequality and the immense power accumulated by tech giants. His immediate response is to draft and publish the Digital Manifesto, a text that updates his theories for the internet age.
Data as the new basis of production
The core of his argument declares that personal data has supplanted factories and land as the dominant means of production. He identifies the vast majority of users as the data class, a group that continuously generates value with every click, like, and search, but does not own the fruit of their digital labor.
The conflicting actors:- The data class: The mass of users who produce valuable information passively and actively.
- The information bourgeoisie: Tech corporations that hoard, analyze, and monetize that data for private profit.
"Users of all countries, unite! You have nothing to lose but your cookie chains."
A call to action: expropriate and socialize
The manifesto does not limit itself to diagnosing, but makes an urgent call for mobilization. It proposes that the data class must organize to claim legitimate ownership over the information it generates. The central goal is to expropriate the data from the hands of big platforms, a process conceived not as destruction, but as transferring control to the collective. The ultimate goal is to socialize the most valuable resource in the contemporary world. 💻⚖️
Pillars of the digital proposal:- Claim ownership: Users must own their digital footprint.
- Transfer control: Remove data power from private corporations.
- Socialize the resource: Manage data for the benefit of all society.
AI as the technological arbiter for the common good
To manage this new system efficiently and fairly, the proposal imagines a central artificial intelligence. This AI would not respond to corporate interests, but would be designed to manage and distribute data-derived resources seeking equity. The machine would calculate needs, assign benefits, and organize digital production, establishing itself as the technological arbiter that eliminates exploitation. 🤖⚙️
A modern irony to close the story
In an ironic twist, the narrative shows Marx trying to explain his complex theory in a Twitter thread, only for the algorithm to limit his characters and suggest buying Twitter Blue. Meanwhile, a Meta bot automatically translates his revolutionary speech into a simple raised fist emoticon for an Instagram story, illustrating the trivialization and barriers that the system itself imposes on critical discourse. 🐦✊