Is There Life After AI? Cory Doctorow Thinks So.
Cory Doctorow talks to us about the internet, whether machines are conscious, why copyright maximalism won’t save us from ChatGPT, and why workers still have a chance to shape what comes next.
154 Article(s) by: David Moscrop
David Moscrop is a writer and political commentator. He hosts the podcast Open to Debate and is the author of Too Dumb For Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones.
The Philips Curve Is a Tool for Waging Class War on Workers
The Phillips curve holds that low unemployment drives inflation, meaning that controlling prices requires putting workers out of work. Its continuing influence shows how power over the money supply shapes class power.
Trump Family Prediction Market Conflicts Are a Good Bet
Donald Trump Jr is raising money for Polymarket and lobbying to shield prediction markets from regulation. There should be a thick wall between Trump family business and the presidency. An event contract on whether one exists might be a good investment.
Do Not Go Gentle Into Silicon Valley’s Dark Night
Silicon Valley has built platforms that colonize our attention, prey on children’s vulnerabilities, and damage mental health. Lawsuits that could cost Meta as much as $1.4 trillion are showing that society can use state power to fight back.
Gen Z Can’t Go On. It Must Go On.
Work under capitalism sucks, and Gen Z’s disillusionment with the labor market is justified. But work itself is socially necessary and the only way to transform it is through collective power, not withdrawal.
Private Equity Is Taking Over Your Veterinarian
Private equity is taking over veterinary services, driving up prices, and putting the pets we love at risk through its relentless pursuit of financial extraction.
Is Donald Trump the Greatest Environmentalist of All Time?
Was Donald Trump’s decades-long persona as a venal carnival grotesque all part of a brilliant scheme to launch an insane war and create the geopolitical conditions for a global energy transition?
We Need to Move Beyond Robot Doomerism
“The robots are coming” need not be understood as heralding the apocalypse. An automated society in which states and worker-owned enterprises use technology to serve public ends while meeting individual needs is entirely consistent with the good life.
How to Buy a Slice of Your Neighbor’s Home and Hike the Rent
A platform backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos lets day-to-day “investors” become landlords, twice removed, by buying shares in rental homes. It’s the app-ification of investment in the building blocks of social life.
The Hollow Crown of ChatGPT’s Head Honcho
Sam Altman may be the reigning king of the AI boom, but the story that matters isn’t his rise or fall. The sector will still demand scale, speed, and the right to run roughshod over the pesky public interest, no matter who wears the industry crown.
Through Meta Glasses, Darkly
How do we solve a problem like the commodification of mass wearable surveillance? Social norms and market pressure are a start, but above all, we need a political response like regulation.
Artificial Intelligence Is Already Making War More Horrific
AI-assisted warfare extends a logic with roots in the industrial warfare of the 20th century: a cold distance that turns humans into points in a dataset.
Robber Barons Are Doing Better Than Ever
A new report finds wealth inequality in Canada is reaching new heights, with a tiny elite enjoying lavish lifestyles while the many are left in the cold. The problem is not just moral obscenity but that democracy is perverted by vast wealth concentration.
Who Wants to Rent a Human?
As AI technologies spread, the next bold, brave frontier is not replacing labor but directing it. Rent A Human turns people into “meatsack” factotums and lackeys for algorithms, handing familiar elites a more efficient way to wield command.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Problem in the Age of AI
AI is understood to be an unstoppable force, but it is still wholly dependent on human labor to function. Whether these technologies liberate or create misery will depend on who controls their development and deployment.
Prediction Markets Are Bookies With Venture Capital Funding
Backed by Silicon Valley–aligned venture capital and legal loopholes, prediction markets are creeping into every corner of life. They turn everything from measles outbreaks to government resignations to famine into opportunities for predatory speculation.
Can Canada’s NDP Step Back From the Brink of Electoral Ruin?
The leadership race in Canada’s New Democratic Party has exposed fractures between workers and professionals and between leader-driven branding and party democracy. Its survival as a serious left-wing force depends on successfully navigating these divides.
The Robots Are on the March, Handing Out Pink Slips
Automation was meant to lighten the load, not empty out the payroll. As Amazon axes 14,000 jobs and plans to cut tens of thousands more, the future of work under AI will depend on who owns the machines and what we, collectively, make them do.
The Great American Oil and Gas Cash Grab
As Canadian politicians proclaim their intention to protect national sovereignty, American shareholders are extracting revenues from Canada’s oil and gas industry — and stiffing workers.
Rob Ashton, Longshoreman, vs. Canada’s Political Class
Canadian ILWU president Rob Ashton is running for New Democratic Party leadership, arguing that the party has lost touch with its base. His campaign aims to put workers back in charge.