“Headed? We are are.” captured the mood better than the theory did. The decisive Yes verdict was less a settled belief that capitalism has already ended than a broad concern that power is moving towards platforms, data and AI faster than politics can respond.
The floor’s most-respected Yes case rejected the premise that this must be either capitalism or techno-feudalism: “Not quite sure why this is an either/or.” Its sharper point was that “Big Tech is extracting rent from cloud platforms and data”, while another Yes voter warned that digital identity could make citizen and platform “one file” — a conditional case, but a forceful one.
The opposing argument was a reminder that dominance can be temporary. A No voice invoked IBM, Microsoft and eBay, concluding that “change is constant no one is at the top forever”; another pointed to governments beginning to monitor Big Tech. The two sides were often answering different questions: No argued that markets and regulators can still disrupt incumbents, while Yes argued that the cost of letting them become indispensable may arrive before disruption does.
The Yes case also carried a darker, less disciplined register: AI and robotics making people obsolete, digital-control systems admired by elites, and “several more bells and whistles” quietly turning ordinary services into recurring charges. References to Palantir, military and financial power, and politicians “licking up” to tech billionaires widened the anxiety beyond economics into a fear of unaccountable rule.
What the chamber endorsed, then, was not a precise diagnosis but a direction of travel: competition may survive, yet the gates are already being built.
7 Opinions
Not quite sure why this is an either/or. Surely it can be both. I have voted ‘yes’ because there is no doubt that Big Tech is extracting rent from cloud platforms and data.
Things have been heading that way for some time. You have a very good virus detector/disc check and repair and so on, then change your service provider, and get another virus checker that won't go away. Or you want a bigger cloud and as with the virus zapper, you soon find you have several more bells and whistles, you never use cluttering up the hard drive, and it's taking your money. We mustn't forget the surprise download, the one that wants to be your friend, 🤑££
We've been through tech dominance state before, IBM, Microsoft, ebay where they were players who were so dominant and to do certain at it felt like you were stuck paying the tax to them but yet over time innovation and changes in the market affected their dominance. We never see it coming but change is constant no one is at the top forever.
Globally there was a fight in US by those Corporations who supported the Democrats & the Tech Bros who then switched to Trump. The ascendancy of Palantir - a CIA cutout - and others to deliver a world run by tech experts & AI is well on the way & our Analogue Politicians are nowhere save licking up to the likes of Peter Thiel Blackrock & Gates etc. The Military & Financial Complexes MIC & FIC are vying with the Techs but Digital ID & CBDC is the aim. Slavery 2.0.
Headed? We are are.
As seen by case in America,and current in EU against Meta,tik tok etc, Governments are starting to monitor big tech,we will have to see how it plays out.
NWO is build for decades. Recently a lot of Chinese solutions (digital ID, social credit score, etc.) on how to control population is liked by ruling elites. AI development mixed with robotics will make a lot of people obsolete. Everything becomes service, Bill Gates years ago dreamed of people paying for his products in electricity bills. Potentially dark ages ahead of us.