WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE PARIS - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #375 - Culture - Reading Rainer Mühloff: Artificial Intelligence & New Fascism (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

This work attempts to demonstrate the political synergy between the "New Right" and "tech" elites. The text moves beyond mere profit-seeking opportunism to examine the long-term political seizure of power-achieved through a shift in, and appropriation of, state functions and governance infrastructures. Rainer Mühloff is a philosopher and mathematician who teaches ethics in Osnabrück, Germany. ---- The book explores the anti-democratic and anti-egalitarian trends inherent in this restructuring of power relations. Artificial Intelligence (AI) serves as the anchor and pivot point; while central to the current IT industry, it also drives a shift toward a new infrastructure for the exercise and functioning of state power.

Here, AI is analyzed as a moment in political discourse and as a driver of necessary infrastructural and political changes. These transformations and shifts draw upon and intersect with elements of a reconfigured fascist ideology. "This alliance is not merely about profit, but about a fundamental, ideologically driven project of social and civilizational domination achieved through the technological transformation of the State."

The author avoids defining this fascism solely as the specific historical era of Nazism; instead, he views it dynamically-as an ideology examined through discriminatory practices and behaviors enabled by the technological capabilities being deployed. Rainer Mühloff identifies three key areas involved in the construction of this fascism:

* anti-democratic actions that undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers, and fundamental rights, while influencing the processes by which majorities are formed. It involves a series of actions challenging the parliamentary and democratic order; * predispositions toward violence that spread hate speech, stoke ever-deepening social divisions, and propagate falsehoods to cement their credibility; * and finally, this violent, noxious rhetoric relies heavily on a technological infrastructure-a new instrument of power. "The distinguishing mark of fascism, compared to authoritarianism, lies in the appropriation and control of technology as an instrument of power. Fascism is a destructive force prepared to use technological and logistical means to secure the might and power required for its devastating political objectives."

Underlying this is a conviction: that technology is the best way to solve all social problems.

An essential book for understanding current power dynamics. It takes an approach that moves beyond questions of performance, capabilities, and the proven (or unproven) utility of AI-which is precisely why it resonates with libertarians. However, we might express reservations about accepting AI simply because it is already ubiquitous, and we might also critique the belief in the rule of law (via hypothetical, mythical regulation) as the primary democratic lever. Unfortunately, the book's conclusions do not quite live up to its introduction of the subject. Another criticism-both literary and political-concerns the use of concepts and neologisms that establish a power dynamic through language (longtermism, extropianism[1], techno-optimism, singularitarianism, transhumanism...). Such terminology obscures what is otherwise a pertinent argument and critique.

Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Rainer-Muhloff-Intelligence-artificielle-nouveau-fascisme
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca