Machines and capital. Félix Guattari and the characterization of machinic automatisms from a counterpoint with the Marxian categories

This paper aims to problematize the role of contemporary technologies and machines, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the dynamics of value production and in the production processes of subjectivities. According to the Marxian position, it is the human labour power as variable capital that produces value, while the machine as constant capital only preserves value. However, the emergence of the current machinic automatisms could complicate the productive conditions of the political economy, as well as influence the behavior of the subjects. In order to specify this double problem, we will analyze the work of Félix Guattari, who precisely proposes the concept of “machinic surplus value” (the production of value by the machine) and “desire value” (the activity of the subjects as unproductive work outside the workplace). The article is divided into five parts. In the first part we offer a contextualization of the proposed topic. In the second part we discuss the Guattarian conceptualization of the machine, the machinic surplus value and the value of desire. In the third we revisit the Marxian approach to the machine and constant capital in Grundrisse and Das Kapital. In the fourth we confront the Guattarian and Marxian position in order to think about the subjective consequences of human work in digital and machinic contexts. Finally, we offer some conclusions.