Historical Alternatives to Laissez-Faire

Last time the anti-monopoly crusader Tim Wu appeared on the show, he was warning broadly about the road to serfdom. But in his new book, The Age of Extraction, Wu gets much more specific. The real road to serfdom, he warns, runs through Silicon Valley. Forget for a moment about surveillance capitalism, Wu suggests, and imagine that the most existential threat to 21st century freedom and prosperity is the “platform capitalism” of tech behemoths like Google and Amazon. These multi-trillion-dollar companies, he argues, have transformed the very places where we do business—digital marketplaces that once promised democratization—into sophisticated extraction machines. Like the robber barons of the late 19th century, today’s tech platforms have concentrated unprecedented wealth and power, creating an economic system that lends itself to the most Hayekian of medieval metaphors. The Silicon Valley business model is turning us into digital serfs, he warns starkly. That’s the extractive goal—the ‘Zero to One,’ as its most prominent ideologue Peter Thiel would say—of platform capitalism.

1. On the core thesis of extraction: Wu defines the economic reality that now dominates our digital economy and explains why “extraction” is the word that best captures our era.

“We have entered a world where we tolerate extreme levels of concentrated private power who try in every way they can to extract from weaker entities as much as possible. Much of the economy has become a resource for extraction by economically powerful actors.”

2. On tech billionaires as modern sovereigns: Wu describes the mindset that has emerged among Silicon Valley’s elite and why their detachment from reality has become dangerous.

“They desire to be treated like kings of small countries. They want immunity from ordinary laws. If no one ever says no to you, whether you’re an autocrat or a tech billionaire, that starts to become very bad for your character.”

3. On Silicon Valley’s ideological transformation: Wu traces how the tech industry abandoned its founding principles and embraced the very monopoly power it once claimed to despise.

“Silicon Valley once glamorized small inventive firms and brilliant scientists who gave their work to the public. Peter Thiel said every company should aim for monopoly. That’s basically where we live today. Everyone wants to be the platform.”

4. On the fragility of centralized systems: Wu warns that the concentration of power in a few platforms has made our entire economic system dangerously unstable.

“Centralized systems tend to be very fragile. They offer great advantages, but when they crash, they tend to crash hard. Whether it’s the economy or web services, I think we’re in for a hard crash coming at some point.”

5. On history’s verdict: Wu issues his starkest warning about what happens if America fails to address concentrated economic power voluntarily.

“If we can’t find some way to redistribute economic power, I think that history will redistribute it for us. The main and most effective tool of fundamental redistribution across the scope of history has been world wars and major revolutions. In a sense, we’re being tested.”

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