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Tecnocapitalismo: L’ascesa dei nuovi oligarchi e la lotta per il bene comune
Una ristretta schiera di Tecnotitani – a capo di imprese come Amazon, Google, SpaceX e Meta – detiene le redini del progresso tecnologico alimentando disuguaglianze laceranti, consumismo di massa, concentrazioni di potere e ingenti speculazioni finanziarie. È il “tecnocapitalismo” di cui Loretta Napoleoni offre un ritratto accurato e impietoso, e che mina alle fondamenta la democrazia e la società tutta.
Per l’autrice, a minacciare il futuro è soprattutto la rapidità della trasformazione quanto più le innovazioni si susseguono dirompenti, tanto più i mostruosi profitti dei Tecnotitani si dilatano, a danno di salari e diritti del resto di una popolazione gettata in preda all’ansia. Come se non bastasse, le criptovalute e l’intelligenza artificiale applicata agli scambi di Borsa stanno gonfiando nuove bolle finanziarie destinate a scoppiare, mentre la corsa allo spazio viene appaltata alla voracità di nuovi Baroni.
Tecnocapitalismo è un invito a riappropriarsi della tecnologia – e del futuro –, perché solo mettendo l’innovazione al servizio della collettività e del bene comune possiamo evitare il disastro sociale ed ecologico.
Per l’autrice, a minacciare il futuro è soprattutto la rapidità della trasformazione quanto più le innovazioni si susseguono dirompenti, tanto più i mostruosi profitti dei Tecnotitani si dilatano, a danno di salari e diritti del resto di una popolazione gettata in preda all’ansia. Come se non bastasse, le criptovalute e l’intelligenza artificiale applicata agli scambi di Borsa stanno gonfiando nuove bolle finanziarie destinate a scoppiare, mentre la corsa allo spazio viene appaltata alla voracità di nuovi Baroni.
Tecnocapitalismo è un invito a riappropriarsi della tecnologia – e del futuro –, perché solo mettendo l’innovazione al servizio della collettività e del bene comune possiamo evitare il disastro sociale ed ecologico.
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Published May 2, 2025
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About the author
Loretta Napoleoni
24 books85 followersLoretta Napoleoni is the bestselling author of Maonomics, Rogue Economics, Terror Incorporated and Insurgent Iraq. She is an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism and money laundering. As Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de Madrid, Napoleoni brought heads of state from around the world together to create a new strategy for combating the financing of terror networks.
Napoleoni is a regular media commentator for CNN, Sky and the BBC. She is among the few economists who predicted the credit crunch and the recession, and advises several banks on strategies to counter the current ongoing crisis. She lectures regularly around the world on economics, terrorism and money laundering.
Loretta is also a columnist and writes about terrorism, money laundering and the economy for several European financial papers including El Pais, The Guardian and Le Monde. In the 1990s she was among the first journalists to interview the Red Brigades, the Italian Marxist armed group. She subsequently spent three years interviewing members of other terrorist organizations. In 2003 she interviewed followers of al Zarqawi in both Europe and in the Middle East.
Born and raised in Rome, in the mid 1970s she became an active member of the feminist movement and a political activist. She was a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC and a Rotary Scholar at the London School of Economics. She has a PhD in economics and a Masters of Philosophy in international relations and one in terrorism.
She began her career as an economist, working for several banks and international organizations in Europe and the US. In the early 1980s she spent 2 years in Budapest at the National Bank of Hungary working on a project for the convertibility of the florin that ten years later became the blueprint for the convertibility of the rouble. In he 1980s she worked for a UK registered Russian Bank, Moscow Narodny Bank, which acted as the foreign branch of the Bank of Foreign Trade. This position afforded her a unique insight into the Soviet economy. In 1992 she produced the final documentation for the structure of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD. She teaches a course at Judge Business Schools, Cambridge.
Napoleoni ’s books include Modern Jihad (Pluto Press, London, 2003); Terror Inc. (Penguin, London, 2004); Insurgent Iraq (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Terror Incorporated (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Rogue Economics (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2008); Terror and the Economy (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2010) and Maonomics: Why Chinese Communists Are Better Capitalists Than We Are (Seven Stories Press 2011) . Her latest book is the best seller Islamist Phoenix (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2014). “The IS doesn’t want to destroy. They want to build the 21st century version of the Calliphate and that is what makes them so dangerous”. Her books are translated into 18 languages including Chinese and Arabic. She lives in London and in the US with her husband and their four children.
Napoleoni is currently working at a book linking the post 9/11 Western foreign policy, the kidnapping and refugee crisis. Based upon original interviews with former hostages, negotiators, member of the crisis unit, kidnap owes and refugees, the book will unveil how post 9/11 Western foreign policy is responsible for the birth of a new breed of criminal and terrorist engaged in kidnapping of Westerners and trafficking migrants. Napoleoni defines these people Merchant of Men.
Napoleoni is a regular media commentator for CNN, Sky and the BBC. She is among the few economists who predicted the credit crunch and the recession, and advises several banks on strategies to counter the current ongoing crisis. She lectures regularly around the world on economics, terrorism and money laundering.
Loretta is also a columnist and writes about terrorism, money laundering and the economy for several European financial papers including El Pais, The Guardian and Le Monde. In the 1990s she was among the first journalists to interview the Red Brigades, the Italian Marxist armed group. She subsequently spent three years interviewing members of other terrorist organizations. In 2003 she interviewed followers of al Zarqawi in both Europe and in the Middle East.
Born and raised in Rome, in the mid 1970s she became an active member of the feminist movement and a political activist. She was a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC and a Rotary Scholar at the London School of Economics. She has a PhD in economics and a Masters of Philosophy in international relations and one in terrorism.
She began her career as an economist, working for several banks and international organizations in Europe and the US. In the early 1980s she spent 2 years in Budapest at the National Bank of Hungary working on a project for the convertibility of the florin that ten years later became the blueprint for the convertibility of the rouble. In he 1980s she worked for a UK registered Russian Bank, Moscow Narodny Bank, which acted as the foreign branch of the Bank of Foreign Trade. This position afforded her a unique insight into the Soviet economy. In 1992 she produced the final documentation for the structure of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD. She teaches a course at Judge Business Schools, Cambridge.
Napoleoni ’s books include Modern Jihad (Pluto Press, London, 2003); Terror Inc. (Penguin, London, 2004); Insurgent Iraq (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Terror Incorporated (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005); Rogue Economics (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2008); Terror and the Economy (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2010) and Maonomics: Why Chinese Communists Are Better Capitalists Than We Are (Seven Stories Press 2011) . Her latest book is the best seller Islamist Phoenix (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2014). “The IS doesn’t want to destroy. They want to build the 21st century version of the Calliphate and that is what makes them so dangerous”. Her books are translated into 18 languages including Chinese and Arabic. She lives in London and in the US with her husband and their four children.
Napoleoni is currently working at a book linking the post 9/11 Western foreign policy, the kidnapping and refugee crisis. Based upon original interviews with former hostages, negotiators, member of the crisis unit, kidnap owes and refugees, the book will unveil how post 9/11 Western foreign policy is responsible for the birth of a new breed of criminal and terrorist engaged in kidnapping of Westerners and trafficking migrants. Napoleoni defines these people Merchant of Men.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 22, 2024
The adequately researched book overviews the Tech Titan Elite and its dystopian hold on today's society. Emerging from this elite class are the newly self-appointed Space Barons. These two related but not mutually exclusive groups lead innovation into a new era that the author dubs 'Present-Future.'
Loretta Napoleoni makes a compelling case against society's sleepwalking and blissful ignorance of the near-future damage caused by this elite class. The book is not exhaustive and could benefit from a more granular approach. Given that it was composed during the pandemic, its brevity is understandable. The limitation of relying solely on technology for research is that it does not capture the full scope needed for a more comprehensive analysis.
Nevertheless, if you are a novice to technological power dynamics, this book is a primer to jumpstart your research starting from the pre-cypherpunk history of the information age. It underscores the importance of checks and balances against the rapid pace of digital innovation and how the New Robber Barons exploit the gray areas of the law, outpacing world governments.
Loretta Napoleoni makes a compelling case against society's sleepwalking and blissful ignorance of the near-future damage caused by this elite class. The book is not exhaustive and could benefit from a more granular approach. Given that it was composed during the pandemic, its brevity is understandable. The limitation of relying solely on technology for research is that it does not capture the full scope needed for a more comprehensive analysis.
Nevertheless, if you are a novice to technological power dynamics, this book is a primer to jumpstart your research starting from the pre-cypherpunk history of the information age. It underscores the importance of checks and balances against the rapid pace of digital innovation and how the New Robber Barons exploit the gray areas of the law, outpacing world governments.
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February 2, 2025I'd rather read Golumbia.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews