Moira Weigel on Palantir, Tech-Nationalism & Aggression in the Life-World

In this episode of the Future Histories Podcast, Moiral Weigel reflects upon different aspects of the connection between business strategies, technological development and the right-ward shift of politics and society we are witnessing. She starts from a split between different factions of digital capital, where she distinguishes between a more liberal faction (e.g. Google) and a more conservative/reactionary faction for which the company Palantir is zoomed in on. She tries to make sense of the difference in political orientation with reference to both ideologies of key actors as well as polit-economic reflections that derive the political positioning from a specific business models of the respective companies. She also highlights a structural shift which is associated with cloup computing, which has a political tendency towards the more conservative/reactionary positionings. Towards the end of the podcast, she also reflects upon workers organizing in the tech industry, the politicization of which she sees as related to the right-ward shift in politics as well - even if clearly not exclusively so.

Comment from our editors:

This podcast episode is an outstanding example for an analysis which attempts to set the development of (digital) capitalism and the right-ward shift we are witnessing in relation to one another. The combination of ideology critique and polit-economic analysis - both grounded in comprehensive knowledge of the digital economy - is masterful.

Go to: Moira Weigel on Palantir, Tech-Nationalism & Aggression in the Life-World