Chris Hayes

If he wanted to make the shoe and give it to his kids, he could do that. And sometimes cobblers would, right? But the factory worker doesn't have that. The factory worker is alienated from the value of the shoe. He's stamping the sole. And when it goes down the line and it gets sold off somewhere else, it's literally outside of him. It's alien to him.

If he wanted to make the shoe and give it to his kids, he could do that. And sometimes cobblers would, right? But the factory worker doesn't have that. The factory worker is alienated from the value of the shoe. He's stamping the sole. And when it goes down the line and it gets sold off somewhere else, it's literally outside of him. It's alien to him.

If he wanted to make the shoe and give it to his kids, he could do that. And sometimes cobblers would, right? But the factory worker doesn't have that. The factory worker is alienated from the value of the shoe. He's stamping the sole. And when it goes down the line and it gets sold off somewhere else, it's literally outside of him. It's alien to him.

So this is the basic Marx labor theory of value, right? That you have this transformation in society, economic conditions, institutions that took a thing that was fundamentally human, effort, toil, whatever you want to call it, and transformed it into this new thing that was a commodity that could be priced and bought and traded.

So this is the basic Marx labor theory of value, right? That you have this transformation in society, economic conditions, institutions that took a thing that was fundamentally human, effort, toil, whatever you want to call it, and transformed it into this new thing that was a commodity that could be priced and bought and traded.

So this is the basic Marx labor theory of value, right? That you have this transformation in society, economic conditions, institutions that took a thing that was fundamentally human, effort, toil, whatever you want to call it, and transformed it into this new thing that was a commodity that could be priced and bought and traded.

Called labor. And I think basically there's something happening right now with attention that's similar. People have always paid attention to things. And that attention has always had some value. And, you know, there's people who have utilized that value for all kinds of purposes. P.T. Barnum, Mark Anthony, friends, Roman countrymen, lemon in your ears. You know, there's always been a value there.

Called labor. And I think basically there's something happening right now with attention that's similar. People have always paid attention to things. And that attention has always had some value. And, you know, there's people who have utilized that value for all kinds of purposes. P.T. Barnum, Mark Anthony, friends, Roman countrymen, lemon in your ears. You know, there's always been a value there.

Called labor. And I think basically there's something happening right now with attention that's similar. People have always paid attention to things. And that attention has always had some value. And, you know, there's people who have utilized that value for all kinds of purposes. P.T. Barnum, Mark Anthony, friends, Roman countrymen, lemon in your ears. You know, there's always been a value there.

But we've entered an age that I think is similar to the industrial age for attention where a set of institutions, technologies, and arrangements – have produced a world in which our attention is being extracted from us and commodified and sold at a price, often in millisecond auctions to advertisers.

But we've entered an age that I think is similar to the industrial age for attention where a set of institutions, technologies, and arrangements – have produced a world in which our attention is being extracted from us and commodified and sold at a price, often in millisecond auctions to advertisers.

But we've entered an age that I think is similar to the industrial age for attention where a set of institutions, technologies, and arrangements – have produced a world in which our attention is being extracted from us and commodified and sold at a price, often in millisecond auctions to advertisers.

And that extraction leads to a profound sense of alienation, similar in some ways to that sense of alienation and that alienation of labor. And yet there's one more way in which it's even more insidious, I would argue. which is that compelled involuntary aspect. So labor can be coerced forcibly. I mean, you can use a whip or a gun to make someone do something, right?

And that extraction leads to a profound sense of alienation, similar in some ways to that sense of alienation and that alienation of labor. And yet there's one more way in which it's even more insidious, I would argue. which is that compelled involuntary aspect. So labor can be coerced forcibly. I mean, you can use a whip or a gun to make someone do something, right?

And that extraction leads to a profound sense of alienation, similar in some ways to that sense of alienation and that alienation of labor. And yet there's one more way in which it's even more insidious, I would argue. which is that compelled involuntary aspect. So labor can be coerced forcibly. I mean, you can use a whip or a gun to make someone do something, right?

If you put a gun to someone's head and say, dig a ditch, you're coercing, you're forcing that labor, but they know they're doing it. If you fire a gun, your head will snap around before you know you're even doing it. And so because of this involuntary compelled aspect of our biological wiring for attention,

If you put a gun to someone's head and say, dig a ditch, you're coercing, you're forcing that labor, but they know they're doing it. If you fire a gun, your head will snap around before you know you're even doing it. And so because of this involuntary compelled aspect of our biological wiring for attention,

If you put a gun to someone's head and say, dig a ditch, you're coercing, you're forcing that labor, but they know they're doing it. If you fire a gun, your head will snap around before you know you're even doing it. And so because of this involuntary compelled aspect of our biological wiring for attention,

this new competitive attention capitalism is working to extract it at such a deep level that it's compelling it in some way before we're even able to make a volitional choice about it. And that feeling is this profound, deep feeling of alienation. I think this alienation is so ubiquitous. I think we all feel versions of it.

this new competitive attention capitalism is working to extract it at such a deep level that it's compelling it in some way before we're even able to make a volitional choice about it. And that feeling is this profound, deep feeling of alienation. I think this alienation is so ubiquitous. I think we all feel versions of it.