General intellect

General intellect, according to Karl Marx in the Grundrisse, is capable of becoming a structural force of production. The concept designates a combination of technological expertise and social intellect, or general social knowledge (increasing importance of machinery in social organization). The "general intellect" passage in the Fragment on machines, says that, while the development of machinery led to the oppression of workers under capitalism, it also offers a prospect for future liberation.[1]

  1. ^ Paolo Virno, ‘Citazioni di fronte al pericolo’, Luogo comune, n. 1 (November 1990), Rome; translated by Cesare Casarino as ‘Notes on the general intellect’, in: Marxism beyond Marxism, eds. Saree Makdisi et al. (New York: Routledge, 1996), 265–272.