Yochai Benkler on Tech’s True Forces: Capitalism, Institutions, and Ideological Impact

Nov 6, 2023

Yochai Benkler, Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, discusses the role of capitalism, institutions, and ideology in shaping technology and societal outcomes. He challenges the belief that technology is the cause of change, emphasizing how power dynamics within capitalism drive technological development. The podcast explores topics such as the impact of digital technology on society, the manipulation of preferences for innovation, the imperfections of free markets and state regulation, the trade-off between broadly distributed knowledge and market adoption, and the value of non-profit, socially-oriented systems.

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INSIGHT

Rent-Driven Innovation Is The Core Force

Modern capitalism's defining force is rapid, rent-driven innovation that creates both growth and exploitation.
The political economy of technology is how we harness dynamism while containing exploitation.

INSIGHT

Technology Mirrors Existing Social Structures

Technology's social effects depend on preexisting institutions, norms, and who adopts it.
Digital tools amplify inherited political economies rather than determining outcomes independently.

INSIGHT

Use Social vs Material Categories To Analyze Change

Analytically group factors into social (institutions, ideology) and material (nature, technology) components.
This simplification helps focus governance and design decisions more tractably.

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Yochai Benkler is a professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Yochai is known for coining the term commons-based peer production which describes collaborative efforts or social production in the creation of information goods such as Apache server or Wikipedia. In 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award from Oxford University in recognition of his contribution to the study and public understanding of the Internet and information goods. Yochai has written a number of influential books, including The Wealth of Networks, Network Propaganda, and the Penguin and Leviathan.

Our conversation with Yochai focuses on the role of capitalism, institutions, and ideology in shaping technology and societal outcomes. Yochai’s theory centers around the notion that it is not technology and software that shape change, but rather that the dynamics of power-seeking in capitalism have subsumed and directed technology and software towards the same aim as it always had — which is to maximize profit for a narrow set of profit-reaping classes while legitimizing it under a patina of claims of self-actualization, democratization, social mobility, and improvement in well-being for all. Yochai’s framework pushes back on the prevailing wisdom that technology is the cause of change but rather an arena where the dynamics of capitalism established since the 17th century are driving, while a naturalized view of technology is simply a red herring.

We also discuss the political economy of technology, commons-based peer production as a value generation model, and the value of decentralized blockchain systems like bitcoin and ethereum.

This was a very refreshing conversation. It’s clear the world could learn a lot from the wisdom of Yochai Benkler.

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