Sublime

In any algorithmically managed system of work, workers occupy one of two positions: above-the-algorithm or below-the-algorithm. Above-the-algorithm workers leverage the power of algorithms to gain outsized returns on their efforts. This includes engineers, designers, and data scientists who design and operate algorithmic coordination systems. This

Just as feudalism blocked production that only capitalism could unleash, so did capitalism constrain an abundance that a new paradigm might unleash. Core to this analysis of the economy was an idea that has come to be called the “fettering of production.”24 Marx observed that many companies’ obsession with profit kept the entire economy from

Hal Varian, by the way, is the person who designed the Google ad auction. And it turned out he was only partially right about “information managers”. We call them influencers. But it was aggregators like Google that did the bulk of the heavy lifting. Computers can scale in ways that people can’t.

THE ARGUMENT

There was no fate worse to him than losing control of what he had built.

in terms of depth and breadth.