The Randian, simplistic free-market thoughtlessness behind the wave of "peer-to-peer" companies, and especially those who are trying to uproot regulations that protect consumers, is far from the wave of the future: it's hucksterism masquerading as progress, hubris as vision, callous selfishness as community-mindedness, and it's a disaster waiting to happen.The sweeping character of that line is actually not representative, and I call it a "pay off line" because the piece pays for it by being marvelously thoughtful, measured, and well-substantiated all the way to the end. It is useful to recall that the "Wave of the Future" was the title of a reactionary pop-tech paleo-futurological volume by Anne Lindbergh in 1940. Like Movement Republicanism (Kim Phillips-Fein tells the story in Invisible Hands), corporate-military futurology was also born in the belly of the beast of reactionary resistance to the New Deal.
Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Deregulatory p2p Is Far From the "Wave of the Future"
Awesome pay-off line of Tom Slee's recent Open Letter to Tim Wu:
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