Yanis Varoufakis interview: ‘Technofeudalism’ author on Gen Z, Fortune 500, Big Tech, Gen Z

When I admit to my fandom as we sit down for a zoom interview,  he immediately tells me off. (This is exactly what I wanted.)

“I don’t want fans in life, you know,” he says. “Ever since I entered politics, I acquired two things that I never wanted to have: enemies and fans.” You see, Varoufakis insists, polarization is a greater problem than whether you’re left or right, whatever your beliefs are.

“Humanity’s escape from tribalism was the one thing that we could celebrate and now we are going back to a kind of tribalism,” he says. But that’s not why we’re here. We are here to talk about humanity’s escape from something else entirely: the economic system of capitalism. Because Varoufakis’ new book, now out in the U.S. after a European release in 2023, is his theory of “Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism.”

I am such a fan of Varoufakis that I had to write my own critique in the pages of Fortune, insisting that while his and others’ concept of technofeudalism is compelling, what we saw in 2023 was the return with a vengeance of “retro capitalism.” Supply chains and energy independence were the major economic stories of that year as inflation continued its long descent from a 40-year peak in 2022, while so far 2024 is showing that old-school automobiles are still the rage as the electric vehicle revolution stumbles out of the gates.

But when Varoufakis, at 62 years old a very distinguished type of provocateur, is sitting across from you on a Zoom call, it’s hard to argue some of his points. But it’s more fascinating to know what his friends and, yes, his fans had to say about his new book that argues capitalism has already been dead for over a decade, and we’re only just now beginning to realize it.

“I have to say I was expecting a far worse reception than I got,” he tells me, and he says the left (his own “tribe,” so to speak) was more upset with it, and not because they disagreed with it. “People on both left and right are wedded to the idea of capitalism” he says, likening it to “the air we breathe.” 

He mentioned the case of an old-school Communist in London who confronted him. “He was spot on. He said, ‘I can’t accept what you’re saying, because if what you’re saying is right, then it’s not enough to organize auto workers and nurses.’” At least he was honest, Varoufakis adds. “He was saying that, you know, [your book is] making my life so…