Cecilia Rikap on Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism and Corporate Power in the Age of AI
Future Histories International
Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Unveiled
This chapter explores how leading corporations, particularly in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors, exploit data and knowledge to consolidate power and create value in society. It examines the dynamics of intellectual monopolies, focusing on their influence over the AI landscape, and how major firms like Amazon and Google dominate the commercialization of knowledge through strategic networks. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the implications of this power imbalance, including the reliance on cloud services and the evolving nature of corporate planning in a highly interconnected global economy.
Cecilia Rikap explains how today’s big tech hegemons build intellectual monopolies and use their power for corporate planning beyond ownership.
This episode was recorded during a live event with Cecilia Rikap, hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation Berlin. Many thanks to everybody involved!
For information on the event, see: https://www.rosalux.de/en/event/es_detail/2MGCX
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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
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Shownotes
Cecilia Rikap at University College London (UCL):
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/94616-cecilia-rikap
Cecilias upcoming book:
Rikap, C. (2025). The Rulers. Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud. Verso Books.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790833/the-rulers-by-cecilia-rikap/
Rikap, C., & Lundvall, B.-Å. (2021). The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualizing the Emerging New World Order. Springer Nature.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-89443-6#overview
Rikap, C. (2021). Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered. Routledge.
Rikap C., Durand, C., Paraná, E., Gerbaudo, P. and Marx P. (2024). Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: A Roadmap to build a Digital Stack for People and the Planet.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2024/dec/reclaiming-digital-sovereignty
Bensussan, H., Durand, C., Rikap, C. (2023) 100 years of Corporate Planning. From Industrial Capitalism to Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism through the lenses of the Harvard Business Review (1922-2021).
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:171107
Rikap, C. (2023) Mapping the Cloud. Big Tech taking the Sky by Storm. CITYPERC Working Paper, No. 2023-05.
https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/280831
Rikap, C. (2024) From Planning AI to Planning the Green Transition. Intellectual Monopolization amid the ecological breakdown.
https://youtu.be/cckqeiwXuHA?si=N3lRKBiN-KVQaXyA
Rikap, C. (2022) Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism. Knowledge Predation and Corporate Planning in the 21st Century.
https://www.youtube.com/live/VMU1IHm8838?si=jiOLSryWIyM9NvYL
Rikap, C. (2022) Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism. How Big Tech Companies became the World’s largest Planners.
https://youtu.be/4va-JedZGQA?si=0p_Lm-CJ-mbK6GoN
on the concept of Value Chains:
https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/education/graduate-study/pgcerts/value-chain-defs
on “demand sensing”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_sensing
on the concept of „the stack” and its relation to states:
Bratton, B. H. (2016). The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty. MIT Press.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262029575/the-stack/
on Doge and its cutting of jobs at US government agencies:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o
on Lina Kahn, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under Biden and her policy efforts (including antitrust laws against Big Tech):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Khan
on the different political strands coming together in the current Trump Administration, including the influence of Curtis Yarvin:
https://youtu.be/YIPWekMahXc?si=mcY_ntC1-etzulF5
on Yann leCun:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_LeCun
Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics
S03E24 | Grace Blakeley on Capitalist Planning and its Alternatives
S02E44 | Evgeny Morozov on Discovery Beyond Competition
S01E45 | Benjamin Bratton on Synthetic Catallaxies, Platforms or Platforms & Red Futurism (Part 2/2)
S01E44 | Benjamin Bratton on Synthetic Catallaxies, Platforms or Platforms & Red Futurism (Part 1/2)
S01E42 | Moira Weigel on Palantir, Tech-Nationalism & Aggression in the Life-World
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Episode Keywords
#CeciliaRikap, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #futurehistoriesinternational, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #BigTech, #CapitalistPlanning, #Monopolies, #PlatformCapitalism, #ProgressivePolitics, #EconomicPlanning, #TechnoPolitics, #Capitalism, #BigData, #TheStack, #Platform, #DataPolitics, #TechNationalism, #Techno-Nationalism, #PeterThiel, #SiliconValley, #Palantir, #CurtisYarvin, #IntellectualMonopolies, #KnowledgeCapitalism, #TechSovereignty, #DataColonialism, #AiAndCapitalism, #TechnoFeudalism, #IntellectualPropertyRegimes
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