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A review by drbjjcarpenter
A Hacker Manifesto by McKenzie Wark
1.0
Would that Goodreads let me give a text 0-stars.
This is the third text by Wark I have encountered. It is the third of her texts that I have found disappointing and a waste of time. I shall not read a fourth.
The notion of the hack is far too overgeneralised. It seems to do an incredible amount of work as it is her fitting inheritor to Marx's proletariat. And yet - who that hacker is, what their activity consists in, is presented not in a formulaic way but instead over 170ish pages of empty platitudes that go nowhere. As a manifesto, this text is a resounding failure of its genre. It encourages no action, no praxis, it delights in obfuscating the world rather than explaining it.
The text is replete with contradictions - but these are never productive contradictions, they seem more like oversights that Wark has failed to properly theorise.
This text makes no contribution. Better to read the original Marx rather than waste your time with this aggravating mistranslation.
Self-indulgent pseudo-mysticism of the highest order. Wark shall not be forgiven for wasting so much time.
Pure wank.
This is the third text by Wark I have encountered. It is the third of her texts that I have found disappointing and a waste of time. I shall not read a fourth.
The notion of the hack is far too overgeneralised. It seems to do an incredible amount of work as it is her fitting inheritor to Marx's proletariat. And yet - who that hacker is, what their activity consists in, is presented not in a formulaic way but instead over 170ish pages of empty platitudes that go nowhere. As a manifesto, this text is a resounding failure of its genre. It encourages no action, no praxis, it delights in obfuscating the world rather than explaining it.
The text is replete with contradictions - but these are never productive contradictions, they seem more like oversights that Wark has failed to properly theorise.
This text makes no contribution. Better to read the original Marx rather than waste your time with this aggravating mistranslation.
Self-indulgent pseudo-mysticism of the highest order. Wark shall not be forgiven for wasting so much time.
Pure wank.