Surveillance capitalism and two cases of currency innovation

Abstract

This thesis picks up and attempts to make sense of several of the interrelated major problems and crises that humanity is currently facing, and which reveal where our lifestyles are unsustainable. A more recent of these problems is the societal impact of the software services that large IT companies offer. The dominant business model behind these largely free services comes at the expense of a devastating societal spillover. A second thread are attempts to invent on currencies and their relation to the crises of today’s capitalist system. Here the thesis offers two currency case studies: one by a Surveillance Capitalist and one by a grassroots food movement, a Community Supported Agriculture. The third interwoven thread is the potential of decentralized software architecture, and Blockchain and Blockchain alternatives in particular. This recently growing technology offers a strong narrative to overthrow established centralized monetary and technology institutions. Via a technology assessment and two case studies, this thesis scrutinizes that narrative and comes to disillusioning results.