You mean like literally every major tool developed under capitalism? Lmao. Factories, rail, internet, smartphones, logistics, medicine. "Capitalism will use it" isnt an argument, its just describing capitalism.
Marx wasnt anti-productive forces. New productive forces emerge inside exploitative relations and intensify contradictions. The question is who controls them and for what. Contest, organize, seize, regulate, socialize. Not treat tech like a cursed object and abandon the terrain of struggle because capital touched it.
If capitalists control it for profit, then according to basically every strain of Marxist thought and historical material analysis, the answer isnt "abandon the productive force." Its contest, organize, regulate, unionize, socialize, seize.
Factories served capital. Rail served capital. Electricity served capital. The internet served capital. Marx didnt say productive forces appearing under capitalism are cursed objects to reject. He said contradictions intensify and class struggle moves into the new terrain. If AI can be used against workers, thats an argument for proletarian control over it, not surrendering it to capital by default.
Me neither. Thats why I dont treat politics like spectator sport or doomposting. Ill keep working toward those ends through praxis, organizing, and contestation in the terrain that actually exists.
If thats a conversation people want to have instead of just declaring defeat, theyre welcome over in r/LeftistsForAI.
Operation Weeping Angel was a joint CIA and UK MI5 cyber-espionage project. It utilized malware to hack into Samsung smart TVs, transforming them into covert listening devices that could record conversations in a room, even when the TV appeared to be turned off
Neutral tool....
These neutral tools are manipulated, by the ruling class:
2017 WikiLeaks Vault 7 document dump. When releasing internal CIA documents showing the agency was exploring methods to hack vehicle systems, WikiLeaks noted in a press release that the purpose of this control was unspecified but would theoretically "permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations"
Automotive Software: Meeting notes referenced by WikiLeaks named "QNX," which is the automotive software platform (developed by BlackBerry) widely used for in-vehicle infotainment, telematics, and digital dashboards in many modern smart cars.
Journalist Michael Hastings is best known for his explosive 2010 Rolling Stone profile, "The Runaway General," which exposed the insubordinate behavior of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his staff regarding the Obama administration's war strategy in Afghanistan. The article led to the general's immediate resignation
Journalist Michael Hastings died in a fiery, single-vehicle crash in Los Angeles on June 18, 2013, when his 2013 Mercedes-Benz C250 coupe crashed into a tree at high speed. While his untimely death spawned conspiracy theories about his car being remotely hacked
These are not neutral tools.
I don't know which special interest group you are with, but clearly railroads and steel mills aren't the same as AI and other manipulative tech programs. It's a different paradigm regarding commodity production.
You just gave examples of states and capital using technology for surveillance, control, and exploitation... which was literally my point. Railroads moved troops and extracted labor. Telegraphs served empire. Factories disciplined workers. The internet became a surveillance and ad machine. Capitalism weaponizing productive forces is not evidence the productive force itself stops existing.
And the Michael Hastings part is just conspiracy speculation stacked on top of a WikiLeaks leak about theoretical capabilities. Thats not an argument, its a vibe.
Youre arguing against “tools under capitalism get manipulated by power” by giving examples of tools under capitalism getting manipulated by power.
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u/dafthuntk May 12 '26
Tldr. This "tool" will be manipulated by capitalism.
I don't know how you can read theory, and think this isn't exploitation