Cory Doctorow talks about revitalization and the future of the Internet

The concept of revitalization, as coined by author and activist Cory Doctorow, is abstract feel right. Whether you’re searching on Google, shopping on Amazon, or browsing Facebook, the big platforms often feel like they’re not trying to bring value to us so much as they’re trying to extract every bit of value they can from us. It wasn’t always like this, was it? Can we return it?

on This episode of vertcastDoctorow has an answer: No, it wasn’t always that way, and yes, we are He can Get it back. new doctoro book, Enshittification: Why everything suddenly became worse and what to do about itfull of explanations of how user-focused products succeed when they fail, and ways in which regulators and competitors can make things better again.

Doctoro He was recently a guest on Decryption, Explaining the nuts and bolts enshittification process. Here, we mostly address the question of what to do about it now. Doctorow’s work focuses largely on bigger-picture organizational issues and technical changes, and his book largely advocates for changes at those levels. There is no exciting speech in Activation About how users need to claim better, embrace friction, shop locally, or exit Zuckerberg’s platforms.

Why not? Is there anything we, the users of these products, who are supposed to vote every day with our wallets and attention spans, can do to get the Internet back on track?

Doctorow has some answers and some ideas. But he’s also quick to say that the way things are is not your fault. Fixing it is not your problem. (Unless you have the power to change bad laws – that’s largely your fault and problem.) He says the good Internet still exists, and we need to get it back.

If you want to learn more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: