Cory Doctorow

And so they said, just leave the monopolies be.

And then...

To, I guess, no one's surprise, unless you've had that specific neurological injury you can only get by doing an econ degree, we got monopolies, right?

And like these guys, they insist that the two are not related, right?

When we observe monopolies in the wild that are quite abusive, you know, whether that's like the automotive sector or intermodal or sea freight shipping, or whether it's like

the sterile bags full of saline or hospital beds or coffins.

One company makes both all the hospital beds and all the coffins.

How's that for a strange little combine?

Or whether it's the five publishers, four studios, three labels, two ad tech companies, and one ebook company that dominate media.

And we say to them, like, look at these harmful monopolies, look at professional wrestling or cheerleading.

And they say, well, how is that our fault?

Right.

It's like we used to not have a rat problem because we've been using rat poison.

And these guys were like, stop putting down rat poison.

And now rats are eating our faces off.

And we go back to them and they say, that's not our fault.

Like, it's sunspots that have ushered in the time of the rat, a moment in which rats are more fecund than at any time in human history.

And I will stipulate the rats did buy all the poison factories and shut them down.

But look, if we're not using rat poison, that's just economically rational.

Right.