Cuneiform was developed to promote state power -- that is, to do the accounts for the state. Around p. 700 of the Grundrisse, Marx has a wonderful section describing how "people's technology" -- as Doyle calls it -- would actually make the economy more efficient. That section offers a wonderful window into the way that capitalism defeats its supposed purpose -- to develop an efficient economy.
I am working on a new book, The Procrustean Economy: Breaking out of the Iron Cage of Capitalism, to get a handle on this subject. On Fri, Feb 10, 2006 at 08:02:48PM -0800, Doyle Saylor wrote: > You know what frustrates me? In the U.S. certain cultural technologies > that bug Mike Perelman like IT being hijacked by the phone companies to > fit their business plan, all the way back in history something comes > along like writing, like cuneiform writing, which could be a 'peoples' > tool but has to be shaped by ruling class needs. Well we can see in > the U.S. that the phone companies are mounting a campaign to squeeze > profit from every bit of text we type. That interferes with what the > people would use the internet for like our little conversations here. > Intrinsic to Marx is the communal redistribution of resources and > property which underlies the proper development of Information > Technology. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
