Money, value, and entropy

This chapter proposes that the concept of economic ’value’ is a notion derived from and inextricably connected to the artifact of money. It argues that we should invert the conventional understanding of the relation between money and value: rather than holding that money signifies value, we can conclude that value is defined by money. In dominating human thought and behaviour, money is the quintessential fetish. Recent analyses of Marx’s thoughts in Capital suggest that his theoretical edifice basically charts the logic of general-purpose money. As in mainstream economics, however, it does not recognise the fundamental contradiction between the algorithms generated by all-purpose money and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: as value increases, so does total disorder. The chapter also questions Marx’s understanding of industrial technology as a force of nature, given that its efficacy may be based on the exploitation of people and resources in other parts of world society.