Yanis Varoufakis on Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

Yanis Varoufakis shot to world fame as the finance minister of Greece. Now, the bestselling economist opens our eyes to the new power that is reshaping our lives and the world.

Born in Athens in 1961, Varoufakis was for many years a professor of economics in Britain, Australia and the USA before he became the finance minister of Greece. He is co-founder of the international grassroots movement DiEM25 and, since 2019, has been leading its parliamentary party in Greece's Parliament alongside his role as a Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.

Varoufakis joins us to talk on Technofeudalism, his incisive critique of the current dominant economic model, named a Guardian Best Forthcoming Book of 2023. He will be interviewed by Andrew Kelly from Bristol Ideas.

No one noticed when capitalism was... replaced.

Perhaps we were too distracted by the pandemic, or the endless financial crises, or all those cute cats on TikTok. But under cover of them all, a new and more exploitative system has been taking hold: technofeudalism.

Drawing on stories from Greek Myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis explains this game-changing transformation and how it holds the key to understanding our times. He shows that the key pillars of capitalism - profit and markets - no longer run the show. Instead, with every click and scroll, we cement the dominance of a new monster, cloud capital, birthed by big tech and central banks, which underlies the technofeudal regime.

Once we grasp the enormity of this change, the crucial puzzles of our era dissolve: from the elusive green energy revolution to the New Cold War between the USA and China and how the conflict in Ukraine threatens globalisation. It explains why crypto technology is a false promise and social democracy is now impossible.

But by equipping us to see this new power for what it is, Technofeudalism answers the burning question: how it might also be replaced, and with what, so that we may recover our autonomy and perhaps even our freedom too.

Varoufakis is the author of four previous books: a memoir, Adults in the Room, and an economic history of Europe, And the Weak Suffer What They Must?, both of which were number one bestsellers, followed by his bestselling Talking to My Daughter: A Brief History of Capitalism and, most recently, Another Now: Dispatches from An Alternative Present.