Gorz and Stiegler: Politics, ecology and the Neganthropocene

The article explores the relationship between André Gorz’s account of the possibility of a deproletarianised regime of labour and Bernard Stiegler’s theory of the Neganthropocene. Gorz’s formulation of the impact of computer and robotic systems on the turnover of capital was, I will argue, a turning point in the way critical theory conceived the social implications of technology. His account of the supervenience of work and culture over the sphere of production forms the basis of the fundamental questions about life, creativity, and freedom that have emerged in the digital age. The paper will show that it is this notion of a fragile and disputed supervenience that is re-formulated and extended in Stiegler’s account of the Neganthropocene, particularly in his account of the fate of reflexive culture under the regime of global-digital capitalisation.