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​Since antiquity, the concept of the unconscious has been central to humanity’s quest to understand the deeper workings of the mind. Yet, despite the enduring fascination, one crucial dimension remains largely unexamined and under-theorized: the economic unconscious (EU). This book emerges from the pressing need to explore and define this construct, especially in an era where its mechanisms dominate under the auspices of cybercapitalism.

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The economic unconscious represents the uncharted intersection of psychological, cultural, and economic forces that operate beneath conscious awareness. While disciplines such as psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and economics provide valuable but fragmented insights, they have systematically omitted the economic determinants of the psyche. Freud, for example, was criticized for his pansexual framework, which overlooked broader socio-economic influences, while economists largely ignore the unconscious dimensions that drive behavior and decision-making.

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The EU has remained in the blind spot of scholarly research for several reasons: the contested scientific status of psychoanalysis, disciplinary fragmentation, and the influence of socio-economic norms and academic industries reluctant to confront capitalism’s darker strategies. The result is an incomplete understanding of how economic systems shape the psyche—an omission this book seeks to address.

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Far from being a theoretical abstraction, the EU is a pervasive, systemic force at the nexus of individual, collective, and industrial systems. This work advocates for the establishment of a scientific paradigm for the EU—one grounded in transdisciplinary collaboration, clinical methods, interpretative frameworks, and intervention techniques. By drawing together scattered insights, this book constructs a coherent theoretical model that reveals the mechanisms through which the EU shapes our experiences of consumption, production, and subjectivity.

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Chapter Overview

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1. Anthropo-Cybercriminal Capitalism
This opening chapter situates the economic unconscious (EU) within the context of cybercapitalism, a system that leverages algorithmic power and artificial intelligence to shape human behavior. It revisits critical perspectives on capitalism, focusing on its ability to exploit and reshape the neuro-cognitive-behavioral complex for profit. By examining the monstrous side effects of neoliberal policies—such as the erosion of autonomy, the commodification of identity, and the manipulation of emotions—the chapter uncovers the unconscious mechanisms deployed to transform individuals into consumerist-productivist subjects. It also introduces the pathological consequences of these dynamics, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the EU in subsequent chapters.

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2. Marx and Freud: From the Economic Unconscious to the Critical Ego
This chapter establishes the theoretical foundation of the book by bringing Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud into dialogue. While Freud’s theories illuminated the structure of the unconscious, they largely ignored the socio-economic conditions shaping it. Conversely, Marx’s critique of capitalism revealed unconscious mechanisms like alienation and commodity fetishism but did not delve into their psychological dimensions. This chapter critiques Freud’s narrow focus on psychosexual drives and familial structures, proposing a reconfiguration of his model to include the economic forces that shape subjectivity. It also introduces the concept of the Critical Ego—a psychic structure capable of resisting the pressures of cybercapitalism.

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3. The Digital-Economic Unconscious and the Excitation of Limits
In the digital age, the EU has found new avenues for control. This chapter explores the beta screen, a metaphor for the weakened psychic defenses caused by sensory overload and the addictive mechanisms of digital platforms. The chapter examines how these platforms engineer dependency by stimulating the boundaries of the psyche, leading to vulnerabilities in mentalization, symbolization, and subjective adaptation. It connects these mechanisms to a disturbing rise in psychiatric disorders, self-harm, and suicide, particularly among younger demographics. By analyzing the perverse ways algorithmic logic interacts with social influence, this chapter reveals how cybercapitalism exacerbates psychic distress.

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4. Postimage and Scopic Capitalism
Vision, the most exploited sensory modality, is the focus of this chapter. Cybercapitalism operates through a regime of scopic colonialism, flooding individuals with imagery designed to manipulate emotions and behaviors. The chapter examines the biological and psychological roots of visual overexposure, highlighting its role in diminishing imagination and critical thinking. It introduces the concept of the postimage, a collaborative image shaped by the interactions of humans, machines, and economic imperatives. This section argues that the visual realm has been colonized, transforming perception into a programmable tool for sustaining consumerist ideologies while weakening the psyche’s imaginative capacities.

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5. The Neuro-Cognitive-Behavioral Complex
This exploration provides a detailed analysis of how cybercapitalism targets the neuro-cognitive-behavioral complex to engineer behavior. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, it examines the mechanisms of neuro-marketing, algorithmic programming, and emotional conditioning. The chapter illustrates how stimuli are designed to exploit memory, attention, and decision-making processes, fostering a system of conditioned responses that perpetuate consumerist behaviors. By connecting these mechanisms to the cognitive unconscious, it highlights the ethical implications of these interventions and underscores the need for a critical, transdisciplinary understanding of their effects.

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6. Affective Politics of Anthropo-Piracy
Emotions are central to the EU’s strategies, serving as a cognitive and economic goldmine for cybercapitalism. This section introduces the concept of affective piracy to describe the monetization of emotions such as fear, anxiety, and desire. By examining how social networks and digital platforms weaponize emotional contagion to drive engagement, it reveals how affect is transformed into a tool for psychological manipulation. The chapter also explores how fear and anxiety are used to fuel consumerism and reinforce political ideologies, creating a volatile emotional landscape that benefits the economic system while destabilizing individual and collective well-being.

 

7. Social Influence: Adaptation or Psychic Colonialism?
Social influence, long studied in psychology and sociology, takes on new dimensions in the age of cybercapitalism. This analysis examines how social media and digital platforms exploit unconscious social dynamics to implant norms and behaviors. It introduces the concept of psychic colonialism, describing how cybercapitalism colonizes the unconscious by subliminally imposing values, desires, and ideologies. The chapter critiques the sequence of entertainment, unconscious permeation, identity uncertainty, and norm injection, which resembles hypnotic conditioning. It raises critical questions about the balance between adaptation and alienation in a world increasingly dominated by algorithmic social control.

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8. Propaganda: Manufacturing the Warrior Unconscious
In this section, the book tackles the pervasive role of propaganda in shaping the EU. It reveals how cybercapitalism employs propaganda not only to sell products but to condition the psyche for compliance with its norms and values. The chapter examines how contemporary propaganda crystallizes prejudices, induces psychic dissociation, and fosters a culture of hypervigilance and consumerism. By framing propaganda as a psychological weapon, it highlights its role in sustaining the economic system and shaping a “warrior unconscious” programmed for consumption, conflict, and compliance.

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9. Pathologies and Psychic Murder
This chapter links the rise of mental health crises to the pathological effects of the EU. It examines how stress, alienation, and emotional manipulation contribute to conditions like anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The analysis critiques the commodification of human experience and the systemic pressures of cybercapitalism, arguing that these factors create a psychic landscape marked by instability and despair. By exploring the connections between individual and societal pathology, it underscores the urgency of addressing the EU’s impact on mental health.

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10. Multi-Layered Theory of the Economic Unconscious
This chapter synthesizes the components of the EU into a cohesive model, incorporating the economic Id, Ego, and Superego alongside factors such as the nuclear family, early cognitive conditioning, and algorithmic programming. The model illustrates how these elements interact within the ecosystem of cybercapitalism, driven by the PSYOP equation: accumulation-production-propaganda-prosthesis-pathology-profit. It reveals how injections and extractions of economic codes pervade all levels of human experience, shaping subjectivities and behaviors in insidious ways.

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11. Philosophical Tangles and Critical Diogenism
The final chapter offers a philosophical reflection on the implications of the EU and its pathologies. It introduces critical Diogenism as an alternative framework for resisting cybercapitalism’s excesses. Drawing inspiration from philosophical traditions that value simplicity, autonomy, and creativity, it challenges readers to imagine new ways of being that prioritize human dignity over material wealth. This section serves as both a critique of the current system and a call to reimagine subjectivity in ways that foster liberation and resilience.

 

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Conclusion: Toward Liberation

Economic Unconscious weaves together insights from diverse disciplines to construct a powerful critique of cybercapitalism and its effects on the human psyche. By mapping the mechanisms of the EU, the book offers a framework for understanding and resisting the forces shaping contemporary life. It is a call to reclaim autonomy, creativity, and connection in a world increasingly dominated by commodification and control.

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