Life inc
how the world became a corporation and how to take it back
by Douglas Rushkoff · first published 2009
89% recommend11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Historical overview of how centralized money and corporate structures developed, framed as a critique of capitalism. Early chapters are called a good primer on corporate history and its effect on local economies.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This didn't just happen.In Life Inc., award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. Indeed, as Rushkoff shows, most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that they're no longer even aware of it.This fascinating journey, from the late Middle Ages to today, reveals the roots of our debacle. From the founding of the first chartered monopoly to the branding of the self; from the invention of central currency to the privatization of
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…have Platform / Surveillance Capitalism), mutual credit, myth of barter, buddhist economics, social darwinism. I also like the work of Elinor Ostrom, Bernard Lietaer, David Graeber, Douglas Rushkoff (Life Inc.), Charles Eisenstein, E.F. Schumacher, Silvia Federici, Mariana Mazzucato and Anand Giridharadas. For technical material: http://ceptr.org Footnotes/links: [1] https://prezi.com/xmzld_-wayho/new-economy-new-wealth/…
on “IPFS, Again” ↗For a very thorough and less hysterical take on some of the same problems of centralized currency, see Douglas Rushkoff's book _Life Inc._
…pointed out, she's not living without money so much as making her own, on the spot, when she needs it - in the form of the very adaptable just-in-time currency known as barter. Douglas Rushkoff's book _Life Inc._ and his recent talks are all about centralized currency's corrosive (or rather, extractive) effect on society and are an excellent source of more economic-hack ideas. Here's his talk from the Web 2.0…
on “Living without money” ↗"Again, any kind of research to back up such a bold and incredibly controversial statement?" There are dozens of books and movies about this. Life Inc by Douglas Rushkoff, the documentary Century of the Self, even John Taylor Gatto's book The Underground History of American Education goes into this quite a bit. Not to mention The Making of the English…
on “Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)” ↗…first ones were formed by feudal lords to harness the power of the merchant class that operated outside the feudal system, essentially granting monopolies. I recommend the first couple of chapters of Life, Inc by Douglass Rushkoff for a good overview of corporate history
on “Corporations are refrigerators” ↗I recommend Douglas Rushkoff's book "life inc, How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take It Back": Centralized money has been the means for sucking profit out of local economies since about 1300. Rising income inequality has been an…
on “Why we should fear a cashless world” ↗…this same choice, so I'm off the hook". Douglas Rushkoff does a good job of examining the other side of the capitalism=progress coin, without throwing out baby with bathwater: https://rushkoff.com/books/life-inc/
on “The American Corporation Is in Crisis” ↗…spend time thinking about things other than work. A few years ago when the first rumblings of "everyone is an entrepreneur" and "be your own brand" and all that stuff with books I read a book called Life, Inc, by Douglas Rushkoff. It helped me realize that the people who thought that living your life like you are corporation comes from a particular worldview that deifies people like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos,…
on “Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?” ↗Life Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗So I see the title. I glance at the picture of the guy, and immediately my eye drops down to his bio DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF is a media analyst; documentary filmmaker, and author. His latest book is Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back. How the world became a corporation? WTF? They lost me as a reader right there.
on “Economics Is Not A Natural Science” ↗