The platforms may be new, but “the power structures remain stubbornly intact. And understanding how friction flows through them – who gets to avoid it and who gets crushed by it – tells us everything about how our economy actually works”.

But Silicon Valley’s friction fighting has come at a price. Some of it is related to where friction goes, once it has disappeared from a consumer’s phone or computer screen. Often “eliminating friction” in a tech product simply means transferring the burden to a low-paid worker. Amazon’s all-out attempts to reduce customer friction have put additio... See more