``Well, I can hardly be cheated out of what I don't have, now can I?'' (CG)
We are cheated out of the general productive forces of the social brain: "The accumulation of knowledge and of skill, of the general productive forces of the social brain, is thus absorbed into capital, as opposed to labour, and hence appears as an attribute of capital" (Grundrisse). Yoshie
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Oh, picky, picky.
However, MIT doesn't have its website up offering its courses for free as of tonight at 1:34a. So, contrary to Brad's suggestion, I haven't had a chance to rip myself off any further by not clicking on it just yet---which is what I was referring to.
Jesus, where are we going with this?
Anyway obviously I understand and agree and practice combating this all the time. My current project at the moment is to help get my warehouse buddy Joe M through an elementary algebra class. Fees at Vista Community College are about $35.00 a semester. It isn't going very well. The instructor stalled around in the middle of the semester with a lot of polynomial arithmetic exercises, and is now rushing the class through completing the square and the quadratic formula.
But getting back the general productive forces of the social brain. I think the conditions are actually worse than the above quote implies. Generalized cheating of the social brain has long ago given way to forced extraction, exploitation, and extortion. The process isn't passive, or a mere swindle, but an enforced coercion.
I think of it like the giant brain bug in Starship Troopers---just sucking those fatty lipids of out its hapless victims through a hollow spike.
Chuck Grimes
That subject line was too long.