As I sit here on a Dell computer, writing on a Logitech Keyboard, in a Google Doc, the irony of having finished Enshittification and then writing a review about it with these products is not lost on me, but the book has helped me find some peace, as it elaborates on that famous phrase “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism” While pushing back on it in meaningful ways.
I can’t say I “like” the book, in the classic sense. Not because of any failing in its quality, content or production, which I have nothing but praise for. I can’t use “Like” because it implies the notion that I enjoyed at least 50% of what the book had to tell me. I did not, but that is part of why I do describe the book as ‘Important’.
The book is roughly split into two parts: Problem and Solution. Cory is painstakingly precise and prolifically well cited in giving an explanation of exactly how bad the state of Technology, World Economy, and Government operation are. It’s a heady task, requiring, like a good teacher, that he start with basics in all topics, and then build on that foundation. As someone who is versed in the broad strokes of what he’s teaching, I found the first half to be less exciting, but deeply informative. I know that Tech companies have been boning me and consumers for years, but knowing exactly how they did it does feel vindicating. Like knowing someone is making your cane longer and then finding their saw and dowel in the garage. But again, it's hard to “enjoy” being told how someone is screwing you over. But it gets better in the ‘Solution’ half.
Cory is known as both a nonfiction writer about our tech obsessed world, and a fiction writer, though admittedly I have not read any of his fiction yet. Enshittification was my first foray into his longer form writing.(His Essays fill my mastodon feed on nearly a daily basis. Sometimes I scroll to get to butt jokes, sometimes I read). But it doesn’t surprise me to see that Enshittification is formatted to present you a problem, then deliver the solution. Novelists do it to characters, salesmen do it to customers. Anyone who tells you nonfiction doesn’t have narrative beats doesn’t read enough. After getting through the first half, which was the result of carrying the book around in my satchel for a month and reading as much as I could before dread set in, the back half of the book was *devoured* over the course of a day. Because I like solutions based thinking and the solutions were, by and large, *new*. Like any millennial ADHD brain, novelty will keep me invested.
Between strategies for better interoperability and green flags popping up about the future of corporate and tech regulation, it was the first time in a while that I felt hopeful about the future that wasn’t in the vague ‘win the midterms’ sense. I’m still looking forward to the midterms, but Cory’s descriptions of the ways in which we can and have made effective policy changes to improve everyone’s lives makes hope feel concrete and achievable.
It’s also no coincidence that I’m reading Don Quixote at the same time as finishing this. You don’t fight the good fight because you know you can win, or even because you’re sane. You fight because deep down you know it's the right fight.
Great book, Cory. I think I’m gonna go back and do "Chokepoint Capitalism" after I decompress with something lighter.
-Ursa
No comments:
Post a Comment