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Capitalist realism and its psycho-social dimensions
Abstract
This brief piece looks at the work of Mark Fisher – especially his book Capitalist Realism (Zero Books, 2009a) and his blog K-Punk – and tries to show how his analysis of what has been called ‘the slow cancellation of the future’ might contribute something significant to the psycho-social project.
... A careful examination of the conversations on the Facebook communities dedicated to Replika (the so-called "friends of Replika") shows how users tend to find in Replika not only a friend, but a means of identification. The obvious limits of AI (rigidity of the conversation, scarce empathy Fig. 1 The avatar in Replika's graphic interface 14 Bird and Green (2020) have stressed the importance of Fisher's work for psycho-social analysis. of the avatar) are completely repressed to make room for the unconscious desire for identification and emotional investment. ...
The central thesis of this paper is that human unconscious processes influence the behavior and design of artificial intelligence (AI). This thesis is discussed through the case study of a chatbot called Replika, which intends to provide psychological assistance and friendship but has been accused of inciting murder and suicide. Replika originated from a trauma and a work of mourning lived by its creator. The traces of these unconscious dynamics can be detected in the design of the app and the narratives about it. Therefore, a process of de-psychologization and de-humanization of the unconscious takes place through AI. This psychosocial approach helps criticize and overcome the so-called “standard model of intelligence” shared by most AI researchers. It facilitates a new interpretation of some classic problems in AI, such as control and responsibility.
Abstract Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? is a provocative polemical analysis of the narrowing of political horizons that has occurred over the past couple of decades and of the powerful ideological grip that capitalism holds on the collective, social psyche, destroying our capacity to imagine political alternatives. Fisher seeks to illuminate the major cultural and social effects of a post-Cold War politico-ideological condition in which (according to Žižek’s well-known observation) ‘it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism’. Building on this analysis, Fisher identifies some key tensions and contradictions in the ideological armour of contemporary capitalism and extrapolates from this some tentative strategic propositions for the anticapitalist Left. This review-article argues that, while Fisher’s book provides valuable conceptual and strategic resources for the Left, it is hamstrung by several weaknesses – not the least of these a tendency to make unconvincing, sweeping claims about the novelty and distinctness of what Fisher terms ‘capitalist realism’ and a tendency to present a caricature of current left-wing thinking.
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