The Marxist Lens: Burnout and the Algorithm

YouTube has become a neat microcosm of the alienation that characterizes the capitalist mode of production. Relationships between creators and viewers have become relationships between content and views, regulated by “the algorithm” – a force external to the actual subjects of the platform, but which ultimately dictates both ends of the YouTube experience. Surprisingly, it is Marx that offers us an insight into how this platform has come to be what it is now. Capital's tendency to subsume everything under its own logic has transformed an initially user-driven, user-oriented space into the YouTube we know today.
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Narration, script, and editing by M.
Animated intro by Jack, co-host of the Auxiliary Statements podcast @AuxStatements on Twitter.
Intro music by Charles Tristan:https://soundcloud.com/charles-tristan
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Recommended Readings:

Marx:
Volume 1 of Capital, particularly the section on commodity fetishism; Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Others:
Althusser, L., Balibar, E., Macherey, P., Rancière, J., & Establet, R. (2016). Reading capital: The complete edition. Verso Books.
---In particular, Part 2 by Ranciere, pg. 121-124

Rubin, Isaak I. (2020). Essay’s on Marx’s Theory of Value. Trans. by Milos Samardzija and Fredy Perlman. Vol. 23. Pattern Books.

"Alienation" by Sean Sayers, in Brennan, D. M., Kristjanson-Gural, D., Mulder, C. P., & Olsen, E. K. (Eds.). (2017). Routledge Handbook of Marxian Economics. Taylor & Francis.
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00:00 - 00:28 Background
00:29 - 00:43 Intro
00:44 - 01:28 Early YouTube
01:29 - 02:52 The Logic of Capital and Monetization
02:53 - 03:20 Subject-Object Relationship
03:21 - 04:02 The Algorithm
04:03 - 04:38 Effect on Creators
04:39 - 05:51 Effect on Viewers
05:52 - 06:15 The Object Becomes the Subject
06:16 - 06:45 The Objectification of the Creator-Viewer Relation
06:46 - 07:03 Creator Burnout
07:04 - 07:25 Shaping the Viewers
07:26 - 08:03 The Sentient Algorithm?
08:04 - 08:45 Summary
08:46 - 09:45 A Caveat and Final Thoughts

Видео The Marxist Lens: Burnout and the Algorithm канала The Marxist Project