Automation-triggered falling profit rates push capital toward social quantification as a new revenue stream
Evidence
Problem 2: If, as some argue, the rate of profit is falling because of technological advances, social quantification represents a valuable new source of profit, at least for the immediate future. As new technologies are introduced into the production process—or as workers are replaced with machines and artificial intelligence—things can be produced more cheaply, which brings down their prices, reducing the profit that corporations can derive from selling their goods. Although opinions vary on how much effect this is having on the global economy, what is clear is that capitalism seeks opportunities to maximize profit, and the social quantification sector represents an opening, at least in the short term, to exploit new revenue streams. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 167
Categorization
- XREF: Engages the Marxist falling-rate-of-profit debate; connects to the reader’s Frankfurt School holdings on state capitalism and Pollock. — connects to: The Internet of Things extends capital extraction into post-purchase consumption — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 49; Social quantification lets corporations profit from participation without commodity purchase — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 166; Social quantification is a subsector of the wider ICT business sector — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 186 (+4 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 167
Broader Connections
- Falling manufacturing profits drove capitalism toward data extraction via platform monopolies
#corroborates(0.88) — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 17 - Social quantification is a subsector of the wider ICT business sector
#expands(0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 186