In this episode, I sit down with science fiction author, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow to unpack his viral concept of Enshitification, the three-act tragedy of platform decay:
1. be good to users
2. lock them in
3. extract value from users to feed advertisers and shareholders
We also dive into:
- The AI bubble: Cory’s case that parts of the sector are propped up by aggressive accounting and incentives, not durable value.
- The “Reverse Centaur”: How workers (from Amazon drivers to radiologists) are being reorganized to serve machine workflows, rather than machines serving humans.
- Software engineering vs. “vibe coding”: Why autocomplete isn’t engineering, and why AI can’t replace process knowledge and domain context.
- The Post-American Internet: What happens when the U.S. weaponizes platforms, and the rest of the world builds alternatives.
About Cory Doctorow: Cory is a multi-time international bestselling author, special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and creator of the blog/newsletter Pluralistic.
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