Activity

Amazon amplifies the power of central authorities. It first appeared that it would empower the independent publisher by giving everyone a place on its infinite shelf space. But it eventually grew into the center of the publishing universe. Everyone is the same size—tiny—compared to the platform on …

Amazon retrieves the spirit of empire by colonizing not just verticals within its own category but horizontals in everyone else’s. It first established a platform monopoly in books by selling books at a loss, in the manner of Walmart using its ample war chest of capital to undercut local stores. A …

This rationale has been enough to keep most thoughtful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs from worrying too hard about the repercussions of their actions. After all, digital corporations will necessarily carry out corporate code better than their predecessors. They apply the engineer’s logic to every sit…

No question, digital technology has created tremendous new avenues for growth. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and many other corporations have created new opportunities and new millionaires. But as a result of their extractive, monopolistic practices, the landscape is left with less to…

[...] Even digital companies that have grown too wealthy and unwieldy, such as Facebook and Google, now innovate through acquisition of startups—for which they pay a king’s ransom. Google has turned itself into a holding company, Alphabet, as if to better reflect its new role as the purchaser of ot…