We live in a world of monopolies, duopolies, oligopolies, wollopolies, xylopolies – ok, I made that two up – but the increasing concentration and consolidation of corporate power. I say secret because no one really wants it to be made plain. It’s bad for business. But you find them everywhere you look – quite literally.…
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How Capitalism Conquered the World
Capitalism is the water we swim in. It defines, in some way, almost every part of our lives. Swimming in it has become so second nature, so pervasive, so ubiquitous that we forget that it has a history and that anything that has a history is made by us as humans. Capitalism is an object.…
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Marx: A Complete Guide to Capitalism
Karl Marx. One of – maybe the – most influential thinker in all of history. Has any other philosopher influenced not just ideas, but movements, actions, revolutions, the courses of entire governments, countries, and continents? Understanding Marx is key to understanding the political and economic waters that have gotten us to where we are today,…
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The Fall of the Mainstream Media: The New Elites
How many of these faces do you know? In a boundless internet with infinite possibilities, why do these ones stand out? Are they new media? New elites? Has the mainstream fallen? This is a story about stories. Who gets to tell them? What shapes them? Do they help or hinder us? This is the most…
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How AI Was Stolen
This is a story about stolen intelligence. It’s a long but necessary history, about the deceptive illusions of AI, about Big Tech goliaths against everyday Davids. It’s about vast treasure troves and mythical libraries of stolen data, and the internet sleuths trying to solve one of the biggest heists in history. It’s about what it…
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AntiSocial: How Social Media Harms
Take a look at this graph. It shows an increase in young American teenagers’ rates of depression, with a notable uptick, especially in girls, since around 2010. It, and studies like it, are at the centre of a debate around social media and mental health. Findings like this have been replicated in many countries. That…