ABSTRACT
One key trait of contemporary capitalism is the unprecedented concentration and private accumulation of the products of general intellect through the patenting system. This phenomenon seeps through all the pores of capitalist society. Far from encouraging a progressive development path for the forces of production, it drives a regressive phase in the advancement of knowledge that deepens unequal development and threatens nature and the whole of humanity, to the degree that it is a threat of immense scale and reach. This chapter intends to contribute to the unravelling of the new architecture that characterizes current innovation systems which have given way to what we conceive of as an imperial innovation system, with its epicenter in Silicon Valley and its constellation of satellites which ring the entire planet. This does not mean that there are no rivalries between the US and other emergent powers in the imperialist dispute for hegemony. New and dangerous contradictions in the development of the productive forces of society are emerging and engendering forces of resistance and counter-hegemony. A new wave of critical Latin American thought on development – including alternatives to development – is unveiling new paths in social innovation reoriented towards what could be conceived of as an alternative modernity.
