Maria Irene
In the relentless march of historical materialism, we find ourselves at the intersection of technology and capital, where the forces of production have taken an unforeseen turn. In this brave new world of blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), we find ourselves revisiting the age-old struggle between labour and capital, but in a form hitherto unknown. Today, we discuss a strange event in this cybernetic landscape: a tweet from Elon Musk leading to the doubling of the price of Milady NFT.
Elon Musk, the vanguard of this new age, is no stranger to the struggles of this crypto proletariat. His tweets, much like the dialectic materialist discourse, have a way of materializing into real world economic changes. A mere 280 characters, dispatched into the ether, can ripple through the digital economy with an impact that belies their brevity.
As Marx would observe, the relationships in this new digital realm are both a reflection of and a departure from the traditional capitalist structures. In the tweet’s immediate aftermath, the price of the Milady NFT – a digital art piece, a product of labour in its own right – witnessed an almost two-fold increase. This shift in value, propelled by a single social media interaction, is an exemplification of the contradictions inherent in the digital economy.
In this new material reality, the labour theory of value, which Marx posited, takes on an entirely new dimension. The value of the Milady NFT is not solely derived from the labour invested into its creation, but also from the societal recognition it receives, mediated through the tweets of capitalist tycoons. As such, we are witnessing the rise of a new form of social capital, where the value of digital goods is dialectically tied to their social recognition.
In the end, the skyrocketing price of the Milady NFT, catalyzed by Musk’s tweet, underscores the complexities of this digital class struggle. It is a stark reminder of the power dynamics at play in this new age of capital. As the bourgeoisie continue to wield influence over the value of digital commodities, the proletariat are left to navigate the tumultuous seas of the crypto market.
In the digital era, the words of Marx ring truer than ever: “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.” The advent of NFTs and the influence of social media on their valuation is a testament to the ever-evolving nature of capital and the continued relevance of the dialectic in understanding these transformations. And so, the struggle continues, not just in the factories and the fields, but also in the ether of the blockchain.
