Digital Media and PhilosophyDigital Education and SocietyCybernetics and Technology in Society
DOI: 10.14452/mr-078-02-2026-06_2

Abstract

Te Li unravels the myth of digital dematerialization so heavily promulgated by Silicon Valley and other AI boosters, which presents the technology as a phenomenon that has escaped the material realm and thus, entropy itself. In fact, Li shows that the material and energetic requirements of AI places it squarely in the physical realm, then situates the technology within the context of the metabolic rift under capitalism.

Citation format

LI, Te. The thermodynamics of capital. MONTHLY REVIEW-AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST MAGAZINE, 2026: 17–32.