Money appears neutral, rational, and natural. It is treated as a universal language of value, enabling trade, credit, and accumulation. But beneath its utilitarian façade lies a powerful system of social control, measurement, and exclusion. At Disquantified.org, a radical project questions the foundations of monetary systems and exposes how quantification—especially via money—operates as a hidden apparatus of power.
In the age of digital finance, credit scores, microtransactions, and algorithmic lending, Disquantified.org calls for a deeper critique of how “money” defines human worth, access, and survival. Through its writings, data leaks, and philosophical provocations, it insists that money is not neutral—it is a coded structure, infused with ideology, inequality, and surveillance.
This article explores the concept of “Money Disquantified,” based on insights and inspirations from Disquantified.org. We examine how money operates as soft control, how its quantified logic reshapes societies, and how disquantification might offer paths toward liberation.
The Myth of Neutral Currency
Mainstream economics frames money as a benign medium—just a facilitator of exchange. It is often portrayed as a tool that “simply” records value and eliminates the inefficiencies of barter. But Disquantified.org reveals how this simplification masks the deeper truth: money is not just a medium, it is a system of valuation.
Quantification as Political Technology
Money reduces complex social relations into numerical equivalences. A loaf of bread becomes $2.50, a house $400,000, a life-insurance policy $100,000. These numbers seem rational, but they are far from neutral—they reflect economic structures, power hierarchies, and historical injustices.
According to Disquantified.org, quantification itself is a soft form of governance. When we assign numerical value to labor, education, or even time, we enforce a framework that prioritizes efficiency over ethics, productivity over pleasure, profit over humanity.
Credit, Risk, and the Politics of Financial Surveillance
One of the most pervasive modern examples of monetary quantification is the credit score. This seemingly objective number determines who is “trustworthy” enough to get a loan, rent an apartment, or even apply for certain jobs. But the metrics behind it—income, repayment history, debt levels—are deeply shaped by structural inequalities.
How Risk Is Racialized and Gendered
Disquantified.org highlights how risk scoring reflects historic discrimination. Communities of color, women, immigrants, and gig workers often have lower credit scores—not because they are riskier, but because the system was built on biased data and assumptions. For example:
- Black Americans are more likely to live in areas without traditional banking infrastructure, limiting access to “credit-building” tools.
- Women often experience wage gaps and career interruptions, affecting their financial histories.
- Gig workers may have fluctuating incomes that the system deems “unreliable,” even if they’re financially responsible.
The monetary system labels these groups as higher risks, restricting their access to homes, capital, or advancement. The quantification of credit thus becomes a quiet mechanism of exclusion.
Digital Finance: A New Era of Monetary Control
With the rise of digital payment systems, fintech apps, and decentralized finance (DeFi), one might expect money to be “freed” from centralized control. However, Disquantified.org warns that the opposite may be happening: digitization enables even more granular forms of financial surveillance and control.
Microtransactions and Psychological Manipulation
Apps that facilitate microtransactions (like in-game purchases, “buy now pay later” schemes, or tipping systems) often obscure the real cost of spending. They blur the boundary between saving and consuming, nudging users to constantly engage with the monetary system—even for trivial exchanges.
These technologies track user behavior, personalize financial nudges, and monetize attention. They do not liberate money—they make it more invasive.
Quantified Labor and the Marketization of Time
Another core concern of Disquantified.org is how money reorganizes labor. In capitalist systems, time is literally money. Workers are paid by the hour, their output tracked by the minute. Platforms like Uber, Amazon, and TaskRabbit quantify every movement, rating productivity and even emotional labor (customer reviews) as part of one’s economic profile.
Disquantification as Worker Resistance
In response, some workers are pushing back. They “jam” tracking systems, spoof GPS data, or engage in forms of digital sabotage. Disquantified.org documents these moments as micro-revolts—attempts to disrupt the quantified evaluation of human effort. Such acts are small but significant attempts to disquantify labor, to restore dignity outside market metrics.
Universal Basic Income (UBI): A False Disquantification?
Some reformists propose Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a way to break the chains of wage labor and quantified productivity. While Disquantified.org acknowledges the appeal, it also offers caution: UBI may still operate within the same quantified framework.
From Redistribution to Transformation
If UBI becomes just another dollar amount attached to citizenship, it may expand the reach of money rather than dismantle its grip. Disquantification means more than redistribution—it means questioning whether money should be the primary mediator of human value in the first place.
The Historical Invention of Money as a Technology of Empire
Disquantified.org often reminds readers that money is not natural—it was invented. And it has historically been a tool of empires.
- Colonial regimes imposed currencies on local populations to control labor and taxation.
- Gold standards and IMF policies forced developing nations into debt traps.
- Bretton Woods institutions used monetary metrics like GDP to dictate economic legitimacy.
Money, in these cases, served as a quantifying tool of domination—standardizing diverse economic systems into extractive global markets. Disquantification involves uncovering this history and resisting its legacy.
Cryptocurrencies: Liberation or New Quantification?
On the surface, cryptocurrencies challenge traditional money. They promise decentralized control, privacy, and independence from banks. But Disquantified.org sees crypto not as escape, but as a mirror of capitalist quantification, just in new code.
Tokenization of Everything
In crypto economies, almost everything becomes a token—attention, identity, gaming assets, digital art (NFTs), and even time. These are traded, speculated upon, and often hoarded. Rather than disquantifying value, crypto may hyperquantify it—transforming every experience into a marketable unit.
What Would a World Without Money Look Like?
This is the radical imagination behind Disquantified.org. If money is not neutral, if its quantification distorts value, then what could life beyond money look like?
While Disquantified.org offers no utopian blueprint, it suggests principles for imagining:
- Communal access instead of private ownership
- Needs-based distribution rather than market exchange
- Trust and mutual aid as social glue, not profit incentives
- Qualitative richness over quantitative accumulation
These are not abstract ideals. Across the world, informal economies, gift cultures, and resource-sharing networks already exist. They may not be “efficient” by capitalist standards—but they are more humane.
Disquantified.org: A Radical Knowledge Archive
Disquantified.org operates in the shadows—part academic, part activist, part leak site. Its contributors remain anonymous, fearing institutional retaliation. The site hosts essays, data dumps, and speculative fictions—all aimed at disrupting the illusion of neutral numbers.
Its ethos is rooted in refusal: refusal to be counted, ranked, scored, or priced. Its project is not reformist—it is abolitionist in the truest sense: seeking the end of money as the universal standard of value.
Conclusion: The Future of Value Is Up for Grabs
Money may feel eternal, but it is not. It is a recent invention, a mutable tool, and a contested terrain. The work of Disquantified.org helps us see this clearly. By exposing the politics of quantification, it invites us to rethink value—not as a price, but as a principle of shared humanity.
In a world gripped by debt, inequality, and surveillance capitalism, disquantifying money is not just an intellectual exercise—it is an act of resistance. It asks: What do we truly value—and why must we always measure it in dollars?