Fighting back against techno-capitalist-authoritarianism

Lately I feel like the world's slow burn has been set to broil. Things are not good. And often times, I feel kind of hopeless, like we are going to have no choice but to succumb to authoritarianism and our new tech overlords. Sometimes it feels utterly impossible to do anything to shift the tide of doom.

And that's the point. The people in control want us to feel hopeless, they want us to feel a sense of existential nihilism so that we don't fight back because we think it's useless to do so.

Combine all this with the growing fear that Ai could potentially replace a whole host of jobs, and it is hard not to be pessimistic.

Which has had me asking - is there anything we can we do to fight back?

Turns out, there are.

We the people are what make capitalism work, and that means we DO have some power

Just 10 people in the world (0.00000121% of the world's population) control 1.2% ($1.5 trillion in wealth) of the global GDP.

That's right - 10 people control 1.2% of the ENTIRE WORLD'S GDP 🌎

With a current world population of about 8,270,000,000, that means there's about 8,269,999,990 who can do something. Those odds should be good.

Those 10 people and the approximately 3,000 billionaires (0.000036% of the world population) in their orbit are only insanely wealthy because we have made them wealthy. We have the power to make them wealthy and we have the power to take a bite out of their fortune if we care to do so.

🗳 Obviously, there is voting. Very important.

💸 But there is also how we spend our money.

I was listening to a recent episode of Pivot (my favorite podcast) in which Scott Galloway argued that in a capitalist society and world, how we spend our money is just as important as voting and protesting. And I 100% agree with him. And I'd take this a step further and say it's not just our money, but also our data, because for most of the people who control the world's wealth, their wealth is built on our data that we have freely given up.

This leads to two very actionable things we can do.

Resist and Unsubscribe

Galloway introduced a very important effort - the "Resist and Unsubscribe" campaign. His approach here is brilliant - target the companies doing the most damage, and cancel subscriptions where you can, and then get others to do the same. You don't even need to stop using the services, just don't pay for the subscription level services because that is what companies pay attention to. And you don't have to do everything, just pick a couple that are less important to you personally and cancel them. Use the free version of ChatGPT, use Amazon without Prime. Whatever, just cancel those subscriptions.

Data Strikes

Going even further are Data Strikes, another great form of resistance. Similar to Galloway's Resist and Unsubscribe campaign, this effort focuses on striking where you can. Many of these companies are doing what they are doing because we are giving them the data to do it. We can turn off that firehose. This person wrote a fantastic post and checklist on how to engage in a Data Strike, and they put together an awesome checklist to help you get started. Can I do all these things? Nope. But I can start doing a few, and then maybe a few more after that.

Collectively this can work

Both of these efforts - Resist and Unsubscribe and Data Strikes - are not "all or nothing." They are about making small changes where you can, a couple of subscriptions here, a couple of services there. Chip away, encourage others to do the same. The ripple starts amounting to waves, and before you know it, a tsunami.

So what have I done so far?

I am not going to lie, this was hard for me to wrap my head around. I have been a HUGE Amazon customer over the years and subscribe to a lot of services, including Ai services. But thinking about all this forced me to reevaluate exactly what I actually needed, and what I could live without.

None of these decisions are going to affect my life much. Just about all save me money. And maybe, just maybe, these actions, combined with other people doing these things, will have some effect.