Abstract
This analysis maps some operational perversities and structural problems at work in the historical contradictions between ‘knowledge socialism’ as it remains trapped within the workings of contemporary ‘knowledge capitalism’. It develops in three parts. First, it considers how the entrenched authorities of ‘knowledge capitalism’ have become an exploitative plutocratic elite, which operates as a ‘plutonomy’ to stall the coming of knowledge socialism. Second, it considers how the workings of democratic elections in many countries developing knowledge capitalist economies can be derailed from moving peacefully toward knowledge socialism as reactionary ‘illiberal capitalist’ forces clandestinely hijack the means of persuasion through disinformation, hacking, and virtual participants in cyber-subversion to spoof electoral systems, spread misinformation, and stop participation. And, third, it provisionally explores three different paths for the transition to knowledge socialism in ‘thought experiments’ to speculate about how that turn could unfold from the on-going creative destruction of knowledge capitalism.
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Notes
- 1.
See https://web.archive.org/web/20120403043222/ and https://www.the99declaration.org/. Accessed 27 January 2020.
- 2.
See https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/. Accessed 27 January 2020.
- 3.
See https://www.facebook.com/groups/333589004105132. Accessed 27 January 2020.
- 4.
See National Employment Monthly Updates at https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/national-employment-monthly-update.aspx. Accessed 27 January 2020.
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Luke, T.W. (2020). Perversities or Problems in the Rise of Peer Production with Knowledge Socialism: Collegiality, Collaboration, Collective Intelligence. In: Peters, M.A., Besley, T., Jandrić, P., Zhu, X. (eds) Knowledge Socialism. East-West Dialogues in Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8126-3_4
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