Cory Doctorow: You Bought it, They Break It
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Why did Cory Doctorow get called a 'scourge on humanity' by Elon Musk?
Is this why Elon Musk called you a scourge on humanity?
He did call me a scourge on humanity, but it was because I told him that I thought it was a different thing. So my other life, I'm a science fiction novelist. And I write when I'm anxious. I wrote like nine books during lockdown. So I write books for all ages. I have a new middle grades book coming out next year. I mean, everything. Picture books, tech criticism, everything. And he was singing the praises of a writer who I knew a little, but very much admired, a guy called Ian Banks, who died very tragically of cancer, who was a utopian socialist. Okay. And he was like, I consider myself a utopian socialist in the model of Ian Banks. And I was like, no offense, but I knew Ian. He was an ardent trade unionist, and you're a union buster.
Yeah. And he's like, well, in Ian Banks' novels, I didn't see any unions. And I'm like, yes, these novels are set 100,000 years in the future in which there are galactic brain artificial intelligences piloting spaceships the size of planets with 100 billion people living on them. The fact that he didn't see a need for unions there – It tells you nothing about whether he thinks we need a union here. And he was like, well, if Ian Banks could have seen one of my Tesla factories, he would have seen that we don't need unions either. And I said, again, no offense. I think there is a difference between traveling faster than the speed of light and eking out marginal gains in the production of electric vehicles.
And that is when he called me a scourge on humanity. But I wanted to pop the stack, because this started with talking about- Did he block you after that?
Yeah, he did. I was fascinated by that side of Elon. The blocking butt. He's a baby. He is the number one champion of free speech and jokes and opinions and all this, until he doesn't have a rebuttal for you. And then he's like, block, you racist, go away, block. Right, gone. This is What Now? with Trevor Noah.
This is What Now? with Trevor Noah.
That's how it is. Eloveena. Full of life.
Corey, I'm glad you've come and joined us on the podcast. It's mutual. But not for the reason you may think. I see. I have beef with you. Oh, no. What have I done? I'm pretty certain that I came up with the term shitification. Oh, dear. And then all of a sudden in like 2022, I saw people saying n shitification. Which I think is more grammatically correct. I just said, but I know I said it. I know I said it. Unless you inceptioned me. I just remember saying to a friend of mine, I said, yo, I'm so sick and tired of the shitification of everything. And then they were like, what do you mean? And then I was like, everything's just becoming shittier and shittier. It's like they're making it shitty on purpose. I can see you coming up with that.
And then people were just like, yeah, whatever. And then you like came up with N shitification. And now the whole world is on it. And I feel like I've been wronged.
You know, when it's railroad time, you get railroads. When it's in shitification time, you get coinages pertaining to the general shittiness of everything. So it's, I mean, we are just living in that moment. But seriously, coinages are like this. So there are lots of coinages. You will find... simultaneous or near simultaneous coinages that appear to be completely distinct just because the ideas in the zeitgeist and, you know, like I've spent 25 years working on these issues and I've come up with lots of words and parables and narratives and all kinds of things. And while I think the minor license to vulgarity is something that excites people, I also think that like in this moment, people are eager for a kind of
atavistic way to talk about how they feel about their technology.
More than ever. Yeah. You know what's funny? It's gone beyond technology. Sure. Even when I was telling Eugene about this episode, I was like, I'm so excited to talk to Corey because he has done for society what I think society has been pining to do for itself, but just sort of hasn't been able to piece together.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why did Cory Doctorow get called a 'scourge on humanity' by Elon Musk?
0:04–11:34
2
What is 'enshittification' and how did the term spread?
11:34–31:28
3
How do laws like the DMCA Section 1201 enable 'parts pairing' and block repairs?
31:28–59:19
4
Why did Cory get blocked by Elon and what does that reveal about tech founders' contradictions?
59:19–1:04:56
5
How did lax antitrust enforcement lead to modern monopolies and 'self-licking ice cream' firms?
1:04:56–1:16:56
6
How are companies 'enshittifying' everyday products—from printers to cars to seeds?
1:16:56–1:33:38
7
What can individuals and movements do to push back and rebuild a fairer internet?
1:33:38–1:52:22
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from What Now? with Trevor Noah
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