The main impediment to the application of mathematics and computer science to Marxism, and social science generally, is that the processes in general are non-deterministic, the underlying probabilities are unknown, and furthermore they change over time. Can you imagine trying to reason about a Turing machine where the state is hidden and transition rules are constantly changing in a non-linear fashion?

Social scientists are happy to call something a law when it happens 90% of the time, which generally happens because the forces are so strong as to usually overwhelm randomness. To prove a theorem, computer scientists and mathematicians build stacks of tens of lemmas on top of each other (if you count all the way to the bottom), knowing that each one can be relied on in all circumstances. To try to prove something universal about society in the same way is to build on sand.

Paul

Thank you for your very interesting post !

I would like to comment on your post with a crucial critical addition, although English is not my mother tongue. I apologize for any grammatical errors.

If I have understood your post correctly, you give the example of the adoption of cybernetics by Allende's government as an example of Marxism's use of computer-science and Algorithmic-ish ideas, and you assert that Marxism is not yet making sufficient use of these tools, which would be useful to it in further influencing the world.

The interweaving of Marxism and cybernetics is a theme that I have studied in depth; I have a degree in philosophy and am a former Marxist. So I'm taking the liberty of giving you some important information that you don't seem to know about. I'd be happy to discuss it with you if you like. This information shows that your wish to see Marxism adopt more computer and algorithmic tools to further influence the world, is a wish that has already come true far beyond what you seem to know but also far below your expectations which I assume to be humanistic. Among the pioneering scientists who developed cybernetics in America were Americans such as Norbert Wiener and Gregory Bateson, but also a Chinese man who played a considerable role in the Marxist-Communists' adoption of cybernetics: Qian Xuesen (1911-2009). Although Qian Xuesen was one of the first cyberneticists in America, he had to leave the country in 1955 because he was suspected of communism: he left the USA for good and went to China, where he brought with him his exceptional knowledge of cybernetics. Qian Xuesen's extraordinary scientific skills enabled him to rise rapidly to the top's circle of the Chinese Communist Party, and have considerable influence with Mao Zedong (https://www.qianxslib.sjtu.edu.cn/en/people/people01.php)

At the same time in the USSR, scientists Aksel Berg, Sobolev, Lyapunov and Kitov were promoting cybernetics to the locals authorities. Between 1955 and 1961, frequent strategic contacts were established between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev to plan international Communist strategy for the long term (including the 21st century). As a result, the Russian and Chinese Communist governments became increasingly interested in cybernetics, until they came to the joint conclusion that “cybernetics is not only compatible with dialectical materialism, but also confirms its validity” (https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/im/2009-n13-im3872/044043ar/ , p. 124)

Indeed, in retrospect, it is clear that “Karl Marx was the first to make implicit and anticipatory use of cybernetic modes of thought” (https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/im/2009-n13-im3872/044043ar/ , p. 125)

In 1961, at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party, Khrushchev explicitly emphasized cybernetics as the key to the worldwide victory of Marxism: “It is imperative to organize broad applications of cybernetics, electronic computing and plant control in production, research, conception and design, planning, accounting, statistics and management” (https://archive.org/details/reportofcentralc0000niki)

The Allende government's cybernetic experiment is an application of this program defined by Mao and Khrushchev, since KGB archives indicate that Allende was an agent of the USSR (https://archive.org/details/ChesnayPhilippePinochetLautreVritt, p. 55-57). The adoption of cybernetics by Marxism between 1955 and 1961 was a strategic event of the utmost importance, constituting the main path for the further development of international marxism-communism to this day and for a very long time to come.

Since the relationship between Qian Xuesen and Mao Zedong, the authorities of Communist China have never separated the development of Marxism-Communism and the development of cybernetics. Qian Xuesen remained alive until 2009 ! He was a major strategic advisor to successive Chinese governments until his death. His influence on China's development is therefore immense. This is why Communist China is today both the world's most Marxist country and the world's most cybernetic country, with its entire system of computerized social control. “Marxism will always be the founding theory of China and the Communist Party. It is a crucial ideological weapon to help us understand society, interpret the law, find the truth and change the world.” (Xi Jinping, May 4, 2018); “We are the largest Marxist ruling party in the world” (Xi Jinping, October 16, 2022).

The actual and futur cybernetic totalitarianism of Communist China is already in embryo in Qian Xuesen's article “A New Discipline of Science - The Study of Open Complex Giant System and Its Methodology”. (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6073209)

The Communist system of cybernetic control not only concerns Chinese territory, but is widely exported worldwide through the official partnerships of the Belt and Road Initiative and many other unofficial surveillance networks. The strategic objective of the Communist International is to successfully implant the Chinese model of cybernetic totalitarianism throughout the world and there can be no doubt about that if we have the right information and are clear-headed. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34789950/).

The invention of Bitcoin obviously has something to do with this, but it's hard to say what. Did Satoshi Nakamoto want to oppose the cybernetic totalitarianism that he felt was coming ? Did Satoshi Nakamoto knowingly contribute to accelerating it (CBDC)? Perhaps the future will answer these questions. What is your opinion? In any case, please don't retort to me with the objection that Communist China is neither Marxist nor Communist... This objection can only be believed by someone who doesn't know what Marxism is. If you believe this objection and think you know what Marxism and communism are, may I ask if you've ever read the critical works on Karl Marx written by Eugen von Böhm Bawerk and those written by Karl Popper or the books by Anatoly Golitsyn ?

What I find most remarkable in your article is that you unknowingly confirm how the sincere believe in Marxism spontaneously leads you towards a valorization of cybernetics as a tool of social engineering exactly like the Chinese authorities since 1955 !

Personally, I believe that cybernetics is not inherently evil, but that the way cybernetics is used makes it either evil or beneficial. For example, genetic engineering is based on cybernetics and can be used to cure diseases and this is all very well. On the other hand, I think (like Karl Popper in particular) that Marxism is intrinsically totalitarian and therefore opposed to general human flourishing. Many people who believe themselves to be Marxists and/or communists are under-informed and do not realize that the outcome of their ideology is inevitably, one day or another, totalitarianism with which these people would not agree. However, it is also certain that a large number of people who believe themselves to be Marxists and/or communists will agree with totalitarianism.

Christian S. (Belgium)