Capitalism and the artificial intelligence revolution

Last month, over 3,000 Google employees signed a letter taking a stand against Google's collusion with the United States' drone assassination program, which has killed and maimed tens of thousands of people throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Google employees demanded that the company end its participation in "Project Maven," a system of mass drone surveillance integrated with the US drone warfare program, declaring, "We believe that Google should not be in the business of war." It called for the adoption of a policy stating that "neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology." Google's collusion with the drone assassination program highlights the growing integration of the major technology companies with the US military, which, having declared a new era of "great-power competition" with Russia and China, sees pressing Silicon Valley into its war plans as the only way to regain its military power on the world stage. Just as ominous is Google's role in mass domestic surveillance and censorship.