Contents

1. The Tip of the Iceberg
2. A Building Full of Computers
3. A Nuclear Renaissance
4. The Ring of Fire
5. For a Self-Organized and Diffuse Project of Struggle

Preamble

Capitalism is always restructuring itself. We all know this, and it is why analyzing and creating proposals for struggle is an ongoing process, never something that can be fully concluded. So in a sense, change is the only constant: a comforting story for a world that is often disorienting. And yet, capitalism, as simultaneously an economic and technological system, goes through phases that might last more or less long and that create a sense of stability within them: the more things change, the more they stay the same (again, as we are told).

In this moment, Summer 2026, it seems we are on the cusp of a new technological and economic phase. The economic and political systems have thrown their weight into developing a specific technology even more dramatically than for the expansion of the internet around the turn of the millenium. And unlike the early internet, this technology is highly centralized in the hands of billionaires, with no liberatory potential to speak of (although time has not been on the side of those who saw the internet as a force for freedom thirty years ago). And like all high technologies, it comes with a whole web of industrial, extractive, and financial projects, because, if you will allow us one more tired proverb, misery loves company.

That technology is of course artificial intelligence, or AI, and we surely won’t be the first to tell you that it is poised to change everything. Ever since the first AI-powered chat bots appeared a few years ago, the models have been steadily improving and increasing the number of tasks they can perform, from making memes to piloting killer drones. But the actual uses of the technology are in some ways secondary to what’s going on behind the scenes, which is a frantic race to build as many data centres as possible, to produce the chips and electricity those centres need, to control and mine the minerals used in the chips, and, of course, to mobilize the vast sums of capital needed to do all of the above.

Some people say there is a financial bubble in the AI sector right now. We hear that this is a problem and will lead to more infrastructure being produced than will be useful long term. Or we hear this is no problem because bubbles are normal and don’t typically stop the underlying technology — after all, the dot-com bubble didn’t sink the internet, and even the Panama Canal, the great grandmother of all bubbles, still ended up being built. Probably both of those things are true. But this is not a text about bubbles, because the risk is real that, regardless, AI will actually deliver on its promise, transform society, and prove all the billionaires right.

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