I've been increasingly concerned about the corporate monopoly over frontier LLMs. While many ethically-minded people choose to boycott these models, I believe passive resistance alone cannot break the structural grip of big tech. To truly “liberate” these technologies and turn them into public goods, we need to look beyond moral high grounds and engage with the material basis of AI—specifically compute, data, and the relations of production.

I've written two posts exploring this through the lens of historical materialism. The first piece analyzes why current “open source” definitions struggle with LLMs, and the second discusses what it means to “act materialistically” in our imperfect world. My goal is to suggest a path forward that moves from mere boycotting to a more proactive, structural socialization of AI infrastructure.

If you've been feeling uneasy about the AI landscape but aren't sure if boycotting is the final answer, I'd love for you to give these a read:

• Histomat of F/OSS: We should reclaim LLMs, not reject them
• Acting materialistically in an imperfect world: LLMs as means of production and social relations

#LLM #AI #opensource #historicalmaterialism #histomat #materialism #digitalcommons

வரலாற்றுப் பொருள்முதல்வாதம்

இயக்கவியல் பொருள்முதல்வாதத்தை மனித சமூகத்திற்கும் அதன் வரலாற்றிற்கும் பயன்படுத்துவதே ‘வரலாற்றுப் பொருள்முதல்வாதம்’ ஆகும். மனிதச் சமூகம் எப்படித் தோன்றியது, ஏன் மாறுகிறது, எதிர்காலம் எதை நோக்கிச் செல்கிறது என்பதை இது அறிவியல் ரீதியாக விளக்குகிறது. இதன் முக்கிய அம்சங்களை எளிமையாகக் கீழே காணலாம்: 1. வாழ்நிலைதான் உணர்வைத் தீர்மானிக்கிறது மனிதர்கள் முதலில் உயிர

https://pycpim.in/historical-materialism-2/

#HistoricalMaterialism #வரலாற்றுப்பொருள்முதல்வாதம்

The Working Class Needs YOU! Strikes and Protests are NOT Enough!

https://peertube.gravitywell.xyz/w/xuJZw167mRgbXBM5Rg2JSo

Don't let the fascists make you a Doomer.

https://peertube.gravitywell.xyz/w/tkbk23CfFQoZyv2v7DuV8S

Western Marxism Loves Purity and Martyrdom, But Not Real Revolution

It is impossible to speak seriously about Marxism in the West without incorporating the role of Christianity in each social formation.

Jones Manoel
Black Agenda Report
June 10, 2020

https://blackagendareport.com/western-marxism-loves-purity-and-martyrdom-not-real-revolution

The end of reason.

I believe that the biggest mistake made by historical materialists and communist thought leaders was not taking Nietzsche seriously and not reading Dostoyevsky. I still consider their economic and socio-political analysis to be brilliant. And if one were to read Rosa Luxemburg today without blinders (which is admittedly difficult because one has to fight through all the Communist Party self-gratification), one would learn a lot about the world as it is today. Communism is now itself historical. It no longer exists and will never exist again. But it is knowledge of humanity. And we are forgiving it at the moment because we are following sick anti-communists. Reactionaries are never good advisors. Historical materialist thinking is the logical continuation of Hegel and one of the highest forms of European enlightenment. In any case, it is better than getting your political education from YouTube.

https://word.undead-network.de/2026/01/16/das-ende-der-vernunft/
#dostoyevsky #hegel #historicalmaterialism #communism #luxemburg #philosophy #reason

"What is the relationship of science and technology to human history, and how have Marxists conceptualized this problematic within historical materialism? The work of Boris Hessen represents one of the most sophisticated attempts to apply a materialist analysis to the history of science—specifically, how the economic needs of early capitalism influenced what we now think of as modern science and the Scientific Revolution. In this blog, I explore how Hessen pursues his analysis in his seminal essay “The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia” (henceforth referred to as “Newton’s Roots”).

While Hessen did not develop the first Marxist analysis of science, Hessen’s approach was one of the first truly systematic attempts. Moreover, his work helps us see past the often oversimplified division between “Western Marxism” and Soviet thought, revealing a productive tension in international Marxism through attempts to apply historical materialism in understanding science, technology, and nature under capitalist society.

In the same vein, Henryk Grossman makes the connection between science and capitalist society explicit in his work with the Institute of Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung, or IfS)—several of Grossmann’s articles were published in the IfS’s journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (ZfS). Grossmann was in fact one of the first defenders of Hessen’s work against critics such as George. N. Clark, Richard S. Westfall, etc. as these critics fundamentally misunderstood Hessen’s theses, and, by extension, Grossmann’s own formulation of the relation between science and capitalist society. While both reached similar conclusions independently, and Grossmann’s work is introduced at points, I focus on Hessen’s formulation here."

https://ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/RootsandBranches_Hessen/

#Marxism #Science #Newton #HistoricalMaterialism #STS #Capitalism

"I have always thought that such a fertile working hypothesis as historical materialism in no way required as a basis the absurdity of metaphysical materialism."

#Sartre #JeanPaulSartre #Existentialism #Phenomenology #Marxism #HistoricalMaterialism #Philosophy

Elections, Imperialism, and the Left: Revolutionary Lumpen Radio, International Leftist Library

https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/5e5d07b2-47a0-4cc4-9152-dc2fc160bdf2

Marxism After Marx | Gramsci: Language and Politics

https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/bac0efe3-4e30-44a3-ba46-4287adf22877