Its been developing for over a decade. The rise of social media was the first major shift in this direction towards Big Tech functioning like a colonial empire of centuries past. Recent quotes from AI executives like Sam Altman simply expose that the transformation is complete. Big Tech looks at the people of the world the same way the British Empire used to see the people across its worldwide empire. We exist for extraction and are expendable. It is a bleak way to look at things, but I also think its critical to see things in this way as we try to determine the best way to protect our money and happiness in the modern world.
Different Tactics, but Same Attitude
The empires of centuries past were obviously overtly oppressive and weren’t apologetic about extracting resources from their colonies at the expense of the people there. They came in with weapons and subdued the people. These were empires of harsh force, but the end goal was to extract wealth from far off lands where the people could be viewed differently from the homeland.
If the modern world of Big Tech, its obviously not going to be physical oppression that is the tactic used. That is not how the world works now, but also its not the best tactic for extraction of wealth. Its much more lucrative to mine for attention and data. In the digital world, its much easier to colonize consumers than it is to go conquer land for resources.
This attitude of Big Tech has been laid bare recently due to the rise of AI. Now the path for money for many of these companies is to replace the jobs that many people hold. The cold statements that continue to flow from AI company CEOs show a very clear colonial view of the people they would be displacing. They don’t care about the job losses. They are simply talking to their investors in the same way a British merchant would talk about profiting from a far off colony in the 1800s.
The part that comes off so bizarre is that these CEOs are talking about fellow citizens of the same country they inhabit, but that is where the truth comes out. These CEOs inhabit the Silicon Valley and its clearer than ever that they don’t view themselves as part of the greater nation or world at all.
Social Media and the Cultural Takeover
Another major aspect of old colonial rule was imposing the colonial culture on the world. This is still seen in our modern day as aspects of British culture are very prevalent all over the globe. The impact of social media wasn’t necessarily an intentional cultural export, but it has still had the same effect. People are increasingly unhappy at the isolated and polarized world, but at the end of the day that culture serves Big Tech. Isolated, angry people are great for engagement and for impulse purchasing.
I often wonder how much of the current culture is an unintentional consequence of the growth of the digital age or if these companies have worked to steer it in this direction. One thing we definitely do know is that as the culture of tech took over, the companies did not work to stop it and only paid lip service to its challenges. The damage of social media to young people is well documented and the prevalence of scams on Facebook is known to be a large portion of the revenue.
In both of these instances, Big Tech stays in line with what serves the extraction economy and hasn’t really stepped up to shift in any meaningful ways. Due to the financial incentives, no one should expect this trend to change and most likely there will be continued advances in this cultural takeover. It doesn’t help tech companies profit if people leave their phones at home for a long hike or spend an evening playing board games with friends. These things go against the culture that serves the empire. Isolation and anger feed the empire and so we shouldn’t be surprised to see it get worse.
The Never Ending Extraction Economy
Watching sports over the past few months in the runup to the Super Bowl, the Big Tech extraction economy was coming at all of us aggressively. It was constant ads for Doordash, Uber Eats and gambling. At the end of the day, all of these things are designed simply to move money out of communities across the country and into the arms of Big Tech. The key element of this economy is constantly throwing things out that are okay in small doses, but easily get out of control.
Getting Doordash when you are sick or injured is one thing, but it has become another element of the Big Tech cultural takeover. Its increasingly common for people to order food delivery and I know for many families its a sizable monthly bill that they would probably like to see going into investments. Restaurants get squeezed by these services and its also been written about that the money for drives isn’t great either. Doordash and Uber Eats started at a much lower price point with huge subsidies from investors, but now that they have expanded they are continuing to squeeze more money out of the system.
Gambling sites and now prediction markets like Kalshi depend on the fact that a certain percentage of the population will not be able to control their betting which will lead to massive profits. These type of sites are the most clear example of how the Big Tech Empire operates. They offer something that is a trap for a fair amount of people, but its not actually forcing anything so its deemed okay.
As articles flow out each week about the massive challenges facing young people today, I keep thinking about Doordash and Draft Kings and wonder how many people, particularly 20 something men would be in a much better place without having hundreds of dollars siphoned off each month.
The increasing flow of doomer stories about how AI is going to take all the jobs only feeds these extraction methods because its hard to save for a future that looks impossible. Its just life in the Big Tech colonies: steady feed of doomscrolling stories, plenty of images of people looking happier than you and constant ads popping up to give you easy places to blow your money.
Resistance isn’t Futile
As a father of two teenage kids, I think a lot about how the world is moving and what it will look like for then to lead a fulfilling life in a world that is increasingly being bent to the will of Big Tech. However, there is actually more hope than this post has shared up to this point. The biggest point of hope is that Big Tech doesn’t directly oppress the way empires of the past did. Big Tech is simply betting on the fact that enough people will get caught up in its apps to feed its profits. They don’t care about the people avoiding them because there will likely always be enough getting caught.
My wife and I started with limiting our kids screen time and exposure to social media, but I soon realized that i needed something similar for myself. I ended up putting limits on my time on Youtube and X, just to limit how much it was impacting my brain. We have fought to schedule time with friends and always have a book we are reading.
I have a personal crusade against our family using food delivery apps. If the delivery apps are out of the picture, it forces us to do things that are frankly more life giving. Cooking at home is way more healthy and going out to a restaurant is way better for getting into conversation, but both take a lot of effort.
In terms of the final battle against AI, I keep a conversation going with our kids about all the jobs that are going to be around in the future. So many jobs that center on dealing with people or building things in the real world will continue to exist and will frankly thrive in a world with AI. The biggest thing I’m hoping to give them is a picture of a world that will still be a great place to live and that they can build a life in.