Sean Monahan predicts the future

For live players who think it’s time to build, the Internet does not provide stable ground. Only the past can do that.

In a business context, digitization was just a hostile takeover. Digital substitution goods were cheaper, more convenient, and more scalable than their pre-Internet competitors. Max may be digital cable with slightly worse content, Uber may be digital cabs that price gouge you when you need them most, and Airbnb may be digital hotels run by the

Culture industry roles were once much more coherent, the lines of power much more concrete. Figures like Anna Wintour and Rick Rubin gesture at this recent past. They were middle men connecting financial capital (businesses) with cultural capital (artists) to create social capital (cultural institutions). Fashion and literary editors, film and

We used to believe we would find agency online. Today, we know agency comes from other people. In an era of change, small groups do big things.

People worry about culture because they know it sets the agenda for the future.

And who wouldn’t want to be in charge of that?

Wall Street and the City held the crown through economic dominance, regulatory capture, and cultural philanthropy. They faltered in 2008 and never regained their pre-crisis legitimacy. The presumptive heir to the throne,