[iDC] Re: a critique of naturalized capitalism

Sun Apr 8 18:18:40 EDT 2007

such confusion arises actually from the pervasive belief that all  
things are a form of capital - we today have those who believe that  
creativity is capital and that there is such a thing as individual  
capital - which constitutes ones skill sets -  which is the value we  
come to invest in our self, in society , etc. etc - all of this  
reflects the drive of capitalism to naturalize itself - and do away  
with the notion of labor and exchange - instead we are encourage to  
see ourselves as  investing in our future-present
On Apr 8, 2007, at 10:16 AM, Sam Ladner wrote:

> Nicholas,
>
> After coming off week of re-reading Capital, I respectfully submit  
> that you are not speaking of Marxian notions of capital. There is  
> nothing "natural" about it. Capital is completely constructed.
>
> There is no medieval capitalism; the system of production was not  
> capitalism. Surely capital existed but it was not the dominant  
> force in production. Markets existed but NATIONAL markets were  
> constructed by nations. They did not spontaneously exist.
>
> I think "most analyses of capital are myopically obsessed" with  
> exchange because that is the ESSENTIAL process of capitalism.  
> Marx's famous M-C-M equation notes that money becomes a commodity  
> and then becomes (more) money. This "sleight of hand" is the heart  
> of capital. Capital is not capital if it cannot guarantee a  
> positive return on investment. This is why Marxian anaylses are  
> "obsessed" with exchange; it is the way value is created, and in  
> turn, the determinant variable of social relations. Marx's capital  
> is a political economy of time, insofar as it examines the exchange  
> of labour time for commodities.
>
> Perhaps your critique would be better leveled at modernity, not  
> capital. Modernity is of course co-constituitive of capitalism, but  
> it can be better contrasted with "beauty" or "culture." In a sense,  
> I hear a modernism/romanticism dichotomy in your debate. If you are  
> speaking of a desire for beauty, completion, perfection, "capital"  
> or even "the capitalising code" is not the best choice of words.
>
> I think capital is entirely the wrong choice of word because it is  
> entirely socially constructed. I do not agree there is anything  
> naturalized of capitalism (not would Marx; most emphatically no).
>
>
>
> On 4/7/07, Nicholas Ruiz III <editor at intertheory.org> wrote:
> Hi Ryan/all:
>
> We should note here that certain factions of genetic
> Code are more represented by Capital, than others.
> Most analyses of Capital are myopically obsessed with
> this small part of the world equation of exchange;
> indeed, it is the part most often categorized as some
> form or other of 'capitalism'...in any event, the part
> of 'it' we are most affected by in life.  Polity
> involves this segment of exchange, modulating its
> activity, while modulated by it.
>
> Many are under the spell of history, which provides
> Capital with a birth, a Beginning, but Capital was
> always present in its basic form: a capitalizing Code.
> We might even say, in our lighter moments, that
> Capital is the dream of the Code; its macrolevel
> extension in to the world, from its micro/molecular
> proximity in the biological cell.  Where Culture
> dreamed of beauty, Capital yearned to be effective.
> At last, Capital learned to effect beauty, so as to
> assimilate beauty as a veneer.
>
> Today, Capital is beautiful—operationally, and that is
> the aesthetic we revere; the beauty of utility.  The
> problem with the recognition of Capital's enduring
> omnipresence is that there is no one to indict of the
> crimes Capital commits—do we indict ourselves, that is
> to say, human society? And then, do we punish
> ourselves?  After all Freud, already tried to issue
> such a judgment:
>
> "But with the recognition that every civilization
> rests on a compulsion to work and a renunciation of
> instinct and therefore inevitably provokes opposition
> from those affected by these demands, it has become
> clear that civilization cannot consist principally or
> solely in wealth itself and the means of acquiring it
> and the arrangements for its distribution; for these
> things are threatened by the rebelliousness and the
> destructive mania of the participants in
> civilization."
>
> What Freud missed here is that the human instinct is
> precisely to work at something (even nothing); there
> is not a renunciation of instinct in that activity,
> but rather an embrace of an instinct to survive, to
> produce, to replicate (and if not replicate, certainly
> to copulate—where replication becomes incidental for
> most of the species)—that is the Code's agenda—the
> Code is as the Code does.  In addition, civilization
> can consist of Capital accrual and defense—and it has
> and does so—increasingly, via the "world-widening of
> the world" (i.e. globalization).  It is not wealth
> that most seek, but rather, production of a life or
> lives.
>
> Capital makes itself known, among other ways, as a
> function and a tool of precisely the "rebelliousness
> and destructive mania" of which Freud speaks.  Though
> circumstances are novel, the inception point of all of
> this is not contemporary, nor modern, or medieval, or
> even ancient. We are merely molecular progeny in
> perpetual flux. Our possibility came into being from
> the point at which molecules began to self-organize,
> conserve, replicate: that is the beginning of
> utilitous Code, a material manifestation of which
> today, is Capital; notice how it too, self-organizes,
> conserves, accumulates, replicates, etc.  It is in
> that sense, that Capital, and increasingly today,
> global Capital, represents and implements the Code,
> and is a tool of it.
>
>
> NRIII
>
>
> --- Ryan Griffis <ryan.griffis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Apr 7, 2007, at 8:25 AM, Nicholas Ruiz III wrote:
> >
> > > I'm not sure I understand the question...could you
> > > elaborate a bit...?
> > >
> > > NRIII
> >
> > i'm questioning the use of the phrase "decided by
> > virtue of our birth
> > as living capitalized beings, driven by the currency
> > of the Code..."
> > There are two paths that seem to be suggested by
> > this language, but
> > correct me if i'm wrong:
> > 1. This (capitalism) is Nature as code, an
> > indifferent system that is
> > not explainable through social/cultural systems, but
> > is a phenomenon
> > of the Universe that is reducible only to observable
> > mechanisms.
> > 2. This (capitalism) is Nature as metaphysical
> > "Code", written into
> > the specifically "human nature" as sin is attributed
> > to all humans
> > "by virtue of our birth" in Judeo/Christian terms.
> >
> > Either way, capitalism (as both an ideology and
> > material system) is
> > unavoidable and evolutionary, as well as totalizing.
> > As if there is/
> > cannot be other ideologies/systems parallel to it,
> > that are not
> > merely false or mythical.
> > If this is the case being stated, i'm not sure what
> > the meaning of
> > the term "capitalism" might be, as in either case,
> > it becomes
> > synonymous with "Nature" and/or "Human."
> > Obviously, i would disagree with such an assertion -
> > hence my
> > recalling of Dawkins' "selfish gene" theory (which,
> > to simplify, is
> > the notion that the behavior we call "selfish" or
> > "self-
> > interestedness" (the traits, not coincidentally,
> > most celebrated by
> > capital) is "hard-wired" into us genetically).
> > If what's being stated is not this, and is just
> > using the language of
> > "Code" (the capital "C" is part of what caught my
> > attention) and
> > "genetic protocol" rhetorically and metaphorically,
> > then i think it's
> > a bit problematic as a critical gesture, as it
> > evades critically
> > through naturalization. It seems, to me, to dismiss
> > the importance of
> > the political, rather than locating it.
> > best,
> > ryan
> > >
> > >
> > > --- Ryan Griffis <ryan.griffis at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >>
> > >> On Apr 2, 2007, at 11:03 AM,
> > >> idc-request at mailman.thing.net wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Herein lies the importance of the political.  It
> > >> is
> > >>> not that we will not be capitalists--this has
> > >> already
> > >>> been decided by virtue of our birth as living
> > >>> capitalizing beings, driven by the currency of
> > the
> > >>> Code; that genetic protocol of environmental
> > >> utility
> > >>> and capitalization.  Every breath we take is a
> > >>> capitalization on the environment we exist
> > >> within...
> > >>
> > >> does the word "capitalism" mean anything specific
> > >> here?
> > >> sounds like a "selfish gene" argument to me.
> >
> >
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>
> Dr. Nicholas Ruiz III
> Editor, Kritikos
> http://intertheory.org
>
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saul ostrow
Chair, Visual Arts and Technologies
sostrow at gate.cia.edu

EXPECT EVERYTHING / FEAR NOTHING

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