technofeudalism.fyi
In the feudal system, the glebe was the land of lords to which serfs were tethered to1.
In the digital age, we can resume using the word glebe to refer to digital spaces where we users use the digital tools provided by companies: technofeudalists.
We can define digital glebe2 as a space where users:
- like serfs, cannot own the means of production. For example, users and programmers can access the glebe to work, however, they have no control or agency over what they build on the glebe. Users are building their businesses, organisations et cetera on the territory of technofeudalists - not theirs.
- like serfs, can only access means of production under coercion. Take it or leave it; there is no negotiation with technofeudalists. You accept the terms and conditions, or you leave. This is not a relation between two willing bodies, but the coercion of one by another. If something goes wrong, there is no recourse. Technofeudalists dictate what goes on the glebe (e.g. can terminate users' accounts, undermine free speech).
- like serfs, cannot survive if they quit. Once users have built their business, organisation, etc. on the glebe, they’re tethered to the glebe to survive. If they quit, they loose what they've built. There is no interoperability.
- like serfs, are kept into minority, in the sense of Kant. In other words, users have no prospect of enlightening themselves on the glebe. It is the interest of technofeudalists to maintain dominion over users’ activities and keep them in a position of serfdom, away from enlightenment. Users are prevented from acquiring the know-how which would set them free from technofeudalists. Worse, the more users remain on the glebe, the more they have to labor to survive. Users have to keep laboring (using tools) at an ever-increase rate if they want to maintain their status. The further users come to rely on the tools, the further they entrench themselves on the glebe. Signing up on the glebe of technofeudalists is a path to minority (Kant) and proletarianisation (Stiegler).
- are drawn into positions of vassalage. For example, vassals are businesses providing their clients with tools3 technofeudalists offer; or users inviting others to join the glebe. In other words, vassals are users nudging others into joining the glebe, thus coercing people into minority and expanding the glebe of technofeudalists. Vassals sometimes think of themselves as enlightened in the art of digital technologies. They cannot be. Vassals cannot depart the positions of minority they put themselves into since they live under the restrictions of technofeudalists which will coerce them into minority as long as vassals remain on the glebe4.
Sources: Techno-Féodalisme, Critique de l’Économie Numérique, Cédric Durand, 2020, p.199-200; Bifurquer: il n'y a pas d'alternative, Giacomo Gilmozzi, Olivier Landau, Bernard Stiegler, David Berry, Sara Baranzoni, Pierre Clergue, Anne Alombert, 2020, p.126; Roman Philip (unpublished work); I am aware of the works of Yanis Varoufakis and Evgeny Morozov but I have not read them.
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“DROIT FÉODAL Terre, domaine auquel étaient attachés des serfs et certains droits seigneuriaux. Serf de la glèbe, serfs attachés à la glèbe.”, Le Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé stem from Trésor de la Langue Française (1971-1994), accessed via the website of Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales on February 6th, 2024↩
A term coined by Cédric Durand in Techno-Féodalisme, Critique de l’Économie Numérique.↩
SaaS, SDKs, trackers, etc.↩
Immanuel Kant, Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?, 1784.↩
FAQ: Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux are both composed of binary blobs, i.e. proprietary (as in non-free; which usage is restricted) software.↩
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