Are We Playing Monopoly as a Society?

Issue 153, March 28, 2024

Big tech has been taken to task repeatedly often without a complete understanding of who they are, what they do and how their business model functions. For many, it seems elusive to understand their motives, wrapped up in proprietary strategy. And frankly, just about no one (certainly not the average individual) can figure out what they’ve been up to and what their intentions are.  Are they out to help us or are they manipulating us for their purposes and goals? The fraternity is a tech cabal that is incestuous. These enterprises are founded by visionaries (oh so young at the time) who see the world as they predict, not necessarily the way it is or ever will be.

The Giants

Let’s start with the well-worn example of Amazon.  Bezos clearly saw a different US marketplace. And he scaled so fast, at all costs, to become the dominant player.  But in an imitation is flattery move, he unlocked the hopes of a flood of marketplace wannabes: Temu, Shien, Etsy, eBay, Shopify…