Interpassive Phenomena in Times of Economic Subordination: From Self-playing Games via Cryptocurrency Mining to Dressing Up in Subversion

Abstract

'One must work, if not from inclination, at least from despair, since, as I have fully proved, to work is less wearisome than to amuse onesel’ – Charles Baudelaire
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\nOnce we have been introduced to the concept of interpassivity, once we have recognized it in our own actions with an amused smile – for instance, to use Robert Pfaller’s wonderful example, in the pleasure we as academics derive from photocopying books, from the delegation of our pleasure of reading to the machine, from staging the illusion of reading, an illusion for which a naïve observer could fall2 – we suddenly see the world through a new lens. Interpassive phenomena pop up all around us and with a childish pleasure we exclaim: interpassivity, again! Therefore, the theory of interpassivity must be highly credited not only for the introduction of a valuable concept and a theoretical tool, but also for being a source of pleasure (consisting in recognizing previously obscured sources of pleasure and finally being able to name them).