Cybernetic Capitalism
A Critical Theory of the Incommunicable

Jan Overwijk (Author)

9781531508937

Paperback / softback, published 7 January 2025

240 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.345 kg

A Conceptual Interrogation of Capital in a Cybernetic Environment
Cybernetic Capitalism presents a groundbreaking synthesis of Niklas Luhmann's systems theory and critical theory. Overwijk examines how neoliberal capitalism now thrives on the management of incommunicability rather than the pursuit of total communicability, harnessing ecological complexity as its driving force. Contrary to earlier critiques that highlighted capitalism's push to render all social life fully communicable, the current era encourages market incalculability, profits from user unpredictability, and spurs service
workers' creativity.
This ecological logic resonates with the extractivist drive of the Anthropocene, reframing our understanding of capitalism as an adaptive, environment-attuned system. Cybernetic Capitalism also exposes how these dynamics intersect with the cultural rise of conspiracy theories and radical-right irrationalism. By illuminating capitalism's paradoxical reliance on both rationalist and irrationalist currents, Overwijk provides a vital new lens for interpreting the complex politics of our time.

Introduction: Abstract Ecologies 1
1. Critical Systems Theory: Ecological Confrontation 15
2. Spiraling into Control: Paradoxes of Thermodynamic Rationalization 55
3. The Vitalist Alternative: Sympoietic Multitudes 93
4. Cybernetic Rationalization: Valorizing the Incommunicable 121
Epilogue: Cybernetic Irrationalization 155
Acknowledgments 179
Notes 183
Bibliography 189
Index 211