
Examining capitalism's chokepoints (Interview)
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This week we’re talking with Cory Doctorow (this episode contains explicit language) about his newest book Chokepoint Capitalism, which he co-autored with Rebecca Giblin. Chokepoint Capitalism is about how big tech and big content have captured creative labor markets and the ways we can win them back. We talk about chokepoints creating chickenized reverse-centaurs, paying for your robot boss (think Uber, Doordash, Amazon Drivers), the chickenization that’s climbing the priviledge gradient from the most blue collar workers to the middle-class. There are chokepoints in open source, AI generative art, interoperability, music, film, and media. To quote Cory, “We’re all fighting the same fight.”
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Featuring:
- Cory Doctorow – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, X
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- Buy Cory’s books
- Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk
- TikTok’s Enshittification
- Rural towns and poor urban neighborhoods are being devoured by dollar stores
- What is Chokepoint Capitalism?
- Revenge of the Chickenized Reverse-Centaurs
- Cory on Twitter explaining “chickenization “
- Red Team Blues: Another audiobook that Amazon won’t sell
- The Memex Method
- Changelog Interviews #221: How we got here with Cory Doctorow
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Join the discussion
changelog.zulipchat.comChangelog++
changelog.comDevCycle
devcycle.comPostman
postman.comSquare
developer.squareup.comTypesense
cloud.typesense.orgWebsite
craphound.comGitHub
github.comMastodon
mamot.frX
x.comWebsite
adamstacoviak.comGitHub
github.comLinkedIn
linkedin.comMastodon
changelog.socialX
x.comWebsite
jerodsanto.netGitHub
github.comLinkedIn
linkedin.comMastodon
changelog.socialX
x.comBuy Cory’s books
craphound.comGig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk
craphound.comTikTok’s Enshittification
craphound.comWhat is Chokepoint Capitalism?
doctorow.medium.comRevenge of the Chickenized Reverse-Centaurs
onezero.medium.comCory on Twitter explaining “chickenization “
twitter.comRed Team Blues: Another audiobook that Amazon won’t sell
kickstarter.comThe Memex Method
doctorow.medium.comPRs welcome!
github.com
- 0:00This week on The Changelog
- 1:35Sponsor: DevCycle
- 4:11Start the show!
- 5:42How Cory is able to write so much
- 13:58Blogging is researching a future book
- 16:44Constantly spitting out words
- 18:20Chickenized Reverse-Centaurs
- 20:22Google made ONE successful product (search)
- 20:59Three poultry packers control Chicken farmers in America
- 23:03Chickenization of gig work
- 23:56Chickenization is climbing the priviledge gradient
- 24:19What's a Centaur?
- 25:21Paying for your robot boss
- 27:46Sponsor: Postman
- 31:24Let's talk "Chokepoint Capitalism"
- 37:43Chokepoints in Open Source
- 39:15Chokepoint in AI generative art
- 51:07It's bleak but we can change stuff (together)
- 53:13Systems are intrinsically interoperable
- 59:58Sponsor: Square
- 1:00:50Federated media circumvents the chokepoint
- 1:03:47High switching costs
- 1:06:35Is there a perfect world?
- 1:11:04Always have a backup
- 1:11:51Regulation and competition
- 1:15:14Why did we stop enforcing anti-trust law?
- 1:17:45We're all fighting the same fight
- 1:19:33There's only one fight
- 1:21:09Chokepoint status on Podcasting
- 1:25:44Up next on The Changelog