Rent-Seeking, Platforms, And The Myth Of Techno-Feudalism with Alex Hochuli

Dec 22, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Alex Hochuli, a writer and political-economic analyst known for his contributions to Bungacast and American Affairs, challenges the buzz around 'techno-feudalism.' He argues it's more a reflection of total capitalism's decay than a return to feudal systems. Topics include the shift of periphery practices to the core economy, the decline of labor power amid automation, and China's complex role as a capitalist entity. Hochuli advocates for a politically ambitious future, contrasting nostalgic views with realistic organizing strategies.

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INSIGHT

Why Techno-Feudalism Resonates

The popularity of 'techno-feudalism' reflects a search for a lens to describe institutional decay and unfreedom.
Alex Hochuli argues 'decay' better captures weakening institutions, stagnating capitalism, and new rent-seeking forms.

INSIGHT

Feudal History Doesn't Fit Modern Reality

Feudal analogies gloss over key historical differences like manorial production and polycentric legal orders.
Hochuli stresses our world has consolidated states, global supply chains, and platform intermediaries, not medieval polycentricism.

INSIGHT

Rent Seeking Is Old; Scale Is New

Rent-seeking is central to techno-feudal claims, but rent extraction has always existed within capitalism.
Hochuli frames today's problem as 'total capitalism' where rentier behaviors have expanded rather than a return to pre-capitalist modes.

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What if the “techno-feudalism” boom is a symptom of our confusion rather than a diagnosis of the age? We sit down with Alex Hochuli (Bungacast, American Affairs) to interrogate the feudal metaphor and make a sharper case: we’re living through total capitalism’s decay, not a return to lords and serfs. That lens helps make sense of platform tolls, anti-market monopolies, surveillance, and institutional rot without pretending we’ve exited capitalism’s basic relations of production.

We trace why the feudal story resonates—unfreedom feels real—then test it against history. Feudalism meant manorial production, oath-bound sovereignty, and overlapping legal orders; our world runs on consolidated states, global supply chains, and platform intermediaries that convert risk into reliable rents. The better comparison is peripherization: practices once common in the periphery now shape the core, from precarious work to state-enabled accumulation. That shift helps explain why labor leverage has collapsed despite rising public sympathy: dispersed service shops, automated production, and logistics-dependence blunt traditional organizing power.

China enters as Rorschach test: state capitalism, social credit, and surveillance make the feudal label tempting, yet the core logic remains capitalist, steered by growth imperatives and legitimacy management. We explore AI’s forked path—job-displacing windfall or costly stagnation—and why care-economy fixes won’t build a livable future on their own. If everyone secretly wants social democracy back, we ask what could replace the vanished conditions that once made it possible.

The conversation ends with “dark hope.” Drop the costume drama, name the system we have, and fight for a directly political project that builds capacity: housing, grids, industry, and public institutions that actually work. Speak against oligarchy in terms a broad public can hear. If you’re ready to trade clever metaphors for concrete ambition, hit play, share with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

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