The Age of Extraction : How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity

Today s tech platforms are some of history's most advanced tools for extracting as much as possible data, attention, profit-margins from everyone else. As they become essential, we are at risk of building an economy that is perpetually unfair for much of humanity.

Places and spaces where people can exchange information and goods have been at the heart of every economy and every civilization in history, but today s global platforms - as provided by Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta and others - are different: instead of providing value they extract it, creating vast disparities in wealth and power between the haves and have-nots. For the first time in history, we have the ability to create sustainable prosperity for all, but currently that wealth is concentrated in a tiny number of hands. It isn't abundance that's the problem; it is distribution.

In this brilliantly engaging, frequently surprising account, Tim Wu, one of the world s foremost experts on anti-monopoly law, draws on fascinating case studies in the history of technology's explosive rise to demonstrate emphatically that breaking monopolies will ultimately unleash creativity and growth - and reduce the vast inequality that inevitably leads to social upheaval and political chaos. Wu also sets out an alternative blueprint that preserves the economic flourishing that platforms catalyze, allowing tech platforms to play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity not just for the few but for the many.

Today’s tech platforms are some of history''s most advanced tools for extracting as much as possible – data, attention, profit-margins – from everyone else. As they become essential, we are at risk of building an economy that is perpetually unfair for much of humanity.

Places and spaces where people can exchange information and goods have been at the heart of every economy and every civilization in history, but today’s global platforms - as provided by Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta and others - are different: instead of providing value they extract it, creating vast disparities in wealth and power between the haves and have-nots. For the first time in history, we have the ability to create sustainable prosperity for all, but currently that wealth is concentrated in a tiny number of hands. It isn''t abundance that''s the problem; it is distribution.

In this brilliantly engaging, frequently surprising account, Tim Wu, one of the world’s foremost experts on anti-monopoly law, draws on fascinating case studies in the history of technology''s explosive rise to demonstrate emphatically that breaking monopolies will ultimately unleash creativity and growth - and reduce the vast inequality that inevitably leads to social upheaval and political chaos. Wu also sets out an alternative blueprint that preserves the economic flourishing that platforms catalyze, allowing tech platforms to play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity not just for the few but for the many.

The Age of Extraction explores how today s dominant tech platforms manipulate attention, extract wealth, and deepen inequality urging us to recognize their influence and reclaim control to create a balanced economy that works for all.

'Insightful' CORY DOCTOROW
'Essential reading' KAREN HAO
'A how-to book on how we can achieve liberty' MATT STOLLER

Our world is dominated by a handful of tech platforms. They provide great conveniences and entertainment but also stand as some of the most effective instruments of wealth extraction ever invented, seizing immense amounts of money, data and attention from all of us. An economy driven by digital platforms and AI influence offers the potential to enrich us, and yet likewise threatens to marginalize entire industries, widen the wealth gap, and foster a two-class nation. As technology evolves and our markets adapt, can society cultivate a better life for everyone? Is it possible to balance economic growth and egalitarianism or are we too late?

The Age of Extraction tells the story of an internet that promised widespread wealth and democracy in the 1990s and 2000s, only to aid the spread of autocracy instead. Tim Wu, the preeminent scholar and former White House official who coined the phrase 'net neutrality', frames our current moment with lessons from recent history from generative AI and predictive social data to the anti-monopoly and crypto movements. And, perhaps most importantly of all, Wu envisions a future where technological advances are able to serve the greatest possible good, for everyone.

Concise and hopeful, The Age of Extraction offers consequential proposals for taking back control to achieve a better economic balance and prosperity for all.