During the last three years, there have been many intellectuals, academics, and even politicians who came to affirm that The coronavirus pandemic put capitalism in check. During the initial moments of the pandemic, in which the majority of the population discovered Zoom, learned to cook with live Instagram feeds and played board gamesThe editor Pablo Amadeo made a selection of texts by great contemporary thinkers which he titled: “wuhan soup”. In it, for example, a text by the philosopher and Slovenian film fanatic SlavojZizek stands out, who defines the coronavirus as “a Kill Bill-style blow to capitalism”. Zizek’s phrase that is worth repeating is: (…) But perhaps another ideological virus, and much more beneficial, will spread and hopefully affect us: the virus of thinking about an alternative society, a society beyond the nation state (…). SlavojZizek. Published in Russia today on February 27, 2020.
It is not the first time this happens. The long depression of the late 19th century, the great depression of the 1930s or the gold-dollar standard crisis of the 1970s were times when capitalism seemed to be collapsing. But all these small earthquakes were not able to bring down, but rather generate some modifications in the capitalist system, which always managed to come out stronger. If in the 70s a defeat for the United States in the cold war seemed inevitable, only 20 years later the pen of Francis Fukuyama announced the end of history with the indisputable victory of what the North American thinker defined as “ideology Western”: the free market system and liberal democracy. But this time, it seems, a virus would achieve what ideological currents as dissimilar and powerful as Marxism and fascism will not be able to in more than a century. But perhaps the reasoning was a bit hasty. Or perhaps capitalism has been transforming for many years, in a much less perceptible way. But whoever wants to use a hammer will see nails everywhere. The death of capitalism has been announced so many times that, almost like in the fable of the lying shepherd.
In 1987, The Italian American artist Arturo Di Modica invested 300 thousand dollars in creating a sculpture of a bronze bull weighing more than 3000 kilos, which today can be seen in Bowling Green Park, near Wall Street in New York. The imposing bull sought to portray the strength and vigor of the capitalismand his resistance to the different crises that threatened to bring him down: more specifically in this case the stock market crash of 1987.
There are some phrases that become something like heritage of humanity, like the Di Modica bull. These phrases, like the classics, they managed to become independent from those who write or say them, and they acquired a life of their own outside the rules of patenting. The literary critic Fredric Jameson and the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek share the authorship of one of them: “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”. Rescuing the authorship of this phrase is extremely important, if we take into account that both identify themselves as Marxists. And it was Marx himself who said that he did not only seek to interpret history, but to transform it.
intangible capitalism
Speaking of ideas, business consultant, academic, and specialist Peter Drucker predicted in 1957 that “the most valuable asset in a 21st century institution will be the knowledge of its employees and their productivity”. Forty-three years before the new century began, Drucker was clear that value in future societies would not be about material and physical assets, as it was in the 20th century, but rather about knowledge.
It is not news that airbnb It was one of the most disruptive companies in the world in the tourism industry, and without having a single hotel or plane in its possession. Something similar happens with Uber, which is a leader in transportation without having a single car, or Amazon leading the retail industry with almost no deposits. The examples could continue indefinitely. But I think that with what we have so far, we can already make a pretty clear point: the bit will beat the atoms. The world of ideas and virtuality (thank you for that, Plato), is taking the physical world ahead.
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Let’s do the following exercise. Let’s imagine an ordinary afternoon on a weekday in the Palermo neighborhood, in Buenos Aires. Cafes, restaurants, bars, breweries full almost all week. How much to give the sum of the turnover of all retail businesses? Suppose that a number X. Now, Palermo is not only a gastronomic neighborhood, but this area of the Argentine capital concentrates more than 220 thousand people. What value will the sum of all the virtual consumptions of those inhabitants reach in one day? We do not have the data, but we can affirm that it is at least 5 times X.
The new crypto capitalism
But the fact that capitalism is not going to end does not mean that it is not being questioned. The anger, distrust and distance from society with its leaders has also become extensive to those institutions that sustain the modern capitalist system. Criticism of institutions such as the European Central Bank or the United States Federal Reserve multiply daily.
in fact, We can say that cryptocurrencies are to financial institutions what social networks are to traditional media.. Or at least what social networks were at first: that is, mechanisms to diversify the sources of access to information.
For this reason, to understand the Bitcoin phenomenon, it is essential to do so from the philosophy and its sociopolitical background, rather than around the strictly economic or financial. This is especially important when, after the 2021 boom, many people are jumping on the Bitcoin train attracted by its high profitability, without fully knowing the context behind it..
First lesson of this story: Bitcoin was never intended as an investment, despite the fact that this is perhaps its greatest attraction. It’s more: It was not intended as a way to buy and sell goods either, but rather it is part of an ideological and philosophical line rather than finance. And this has to do with a second important lesson related to the emergence and development of this crypto. Bitcoin has no owner. It belongs to everyone and nobody at the same time. There is no company called Bitcoin that manages it, nor is there a Central Bank that issues them.
It is essential to keep in mind that capitalism has evolved over time and we may be witnessing a gradual transformation. In any case, time will tell if the virus will be the final blow to capitalism or if, like the bull in Di Modica’s sculpture, the system will continue to show its resistance and strength.
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