Finished [[Platform Capitalism]] (audiobook).
- I’ll need to give it another listen, as not all of it went in - listening while distracted.
- But seemed good. A lot more academic than [[Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism?]]. The latter was more engaging, but (maybe?) less rigorous. I appreciate this book’s succinctness.
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Some things that stuck out from this listen:
- It has a good historical overview of where platforms came from and how they came to dominate.
- It has a useful typology of platforms.
- Platforms primarily gain their advantages from data.
- Trying to force platform capitalists to respect privacy is impossible - it’s part of their DNA.
- Over time platforms try to control the whole stack.
- Over time, platforms slowly converge to offering the same services.
- There’s a tiny bit at the end on possible ways to counter platform dominance. Very small, but worth noting.