Silver, Anchored by Spreadsheet Logic
In spreadsheet capitalism, silver remains valuable precisely because it is material, scarce, and physically constrained. Yet its power and price are determined less by where it is mined than by how it is calculated. Silver stands as a rare bridge between the physical world and the abstract financial architectures that now coordinate global political economies.
The SACT Attack: How Spreadsheet Capitalism Conquered the World
Once Substitution is complete, the other layers of SACT can take over. You cannot apply Abstraction (comparing unlike things), Symbolic Computing (formulas), or Telecommunications (speed) to a physical house. But you can apply all of them to the token of the house sitting in a spreadsheet cell.
Taylor’s Fab Rescue: The A16 Chip
My home in Austin, Texas, is about 25 miles from the newly built Samsung microprocessor fabrication “fab” factory. The fab has been running behind schedule since it switched its plans from 4-nanometer chips to 2-nanometer chips. But Tesla recently signed a deal with Samsung to build its A16 (and maybe A18) chips in Texas for […]
Spreadsheet Knowledge and Production of the “Modern Fact”
Poovey’s book provides a critical background and framework for understanding how certain forms of knowledge became authoritative and seemingly “objective.” She argued that the rise of double-entry bookkeeping and statistical sciences in the early modern period was not merely a technical advancement but a profound epistemological shift. These systems created a new way of seeing and organizing the world through numerical representation, presenting complex realities as quantifiable and manageable facts.
Tokenization of Gold in Blockchained Spreadsheet Capitalism
In spreadsheet capitalism, tokenized gold becomes a substituted signifier for the financialized metal. Vaulted bullion becomes a tradable token represented in a spreadsheet cell. Gold becomes a computable variable (risk metrics, yield structures, algorithmic trading inputs) and a synchronized signal in the global financial grid. Real-time ledger entries are harmonized with financial terminals and portfolio dashboards.
The International Politics of Domain Name (DNS) Governance, Part 3: ICANN and AI
The change from IANA to ICANN resulted in the successful stewardship transition in 2016, transferring oversight of critical Internet functions from the US government to a global, decentralized, multistakeholder model. These changes reflected the Internet’s growth, the need for more inclusive governance, and ongoing efforts to address security, accessibility, and internationalization challenges.
Situating Gold in the Substitution-Computational-Telecom Stack of Global Finance
This post explains that in the modern financial system, gold no longer functions as a currency but as a powerful symbolic asset within the dollar-anchored framework of “spreadsheet capitalism.” Its physical form is replaced by the digital symbol XAUUSD, which represents abstract concepts like “safe-haven,” “inflation hedge,” and “geopolitical insurance.” This symbol is integrated into the global economy through a Semiotic-Computational-Telecom (SCT) stack.
USD Centrality and Network Effects in the Global Economy
When we say the USD/eurodollar is a cell at the center of the global spreadsheet, we mean every balance sheet in the world, whether in New York, London, Shanghai, or São Paulo, has at least one column denominated in USD. A loan in yen, a bond in euros, or a derivative in pesos ultimately references the USD cell through conversions, swaps, or collateral rules.
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About Me
Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and global political economy
You can reach me at:
anthony.pennings@gmail.com
apennings70@gmail.com
anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
About me
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