THE METAMORPHOSIS OF CAPITAL: ALGORITHMIC POWER, MORAL ECONOMIES, AND THE FUTURE OF HUMAN VALUE

Abstract

Capitalism in the 21st century is being reshaped fundamentally by the rapid integration of algorithmic technologies, which now mediate not only economic production but also social interactions and moral valuation systems. These technologies, particularly generative artificial intelligence (AI), have catalyzed the emergence of what scholars’ term "algorithmic capitalism," a novel phase in the ongoing metamorphosis of capital. Unlike previous capitalist phases centered predominantly on physical labor and material production, this new form reframes value creation through digital abstractions, automated decision-making, and large-scale data processing (Egan, 2024). At the core of this transformation is the redefinition of labor itself. Traditional human labor—once the essential source of surplus value in Marxist theory—has increasingly transitioned into activities that facilitate and train algorithms rather than directly produce commodities. Human creativity, knowledge, and expertise become inputs for algorithmic systems, which then autonomously generate outputs that command economic value in markets. This shift detaches value from tangible labor processes and embeds it within complex data ecosystems and computational operations, challenging classical economic theories about the source of value (Egan, 2024).