Factory in the superstructure: the industrial uses of the internet and collective health

Abstract

This essay reflects on human health in the contemporary world based on economic conditions. To do this, it compares classical capitalism on one side with modern forms of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services on a global scale. It employs the heuristic procedure of contrasting the productive infrastructure of the 19th century with the technology that enabled the advent of the Internet and its unexpected and multiple applications. Subsequently, it seeks to understand the repercussions of the prodigious transformation of logistical, communicational, and productive means on human affection and feelings. The results of the reflective exercise point to the deterioration of the mental and physical health of a large portion of humanity, but also to emerging properties of the Internet, so to speak, ambiguous and carrying possible lines of escape, potentially promoting collective health.