Accelerationism
The Road is Already Paved (Part 3): You Will Own Nothing and Be Happy
LOADING PROPERTY REGISTRY… ERROR: USER DOES NOT OWN ANYTHING SUGGESTED ACTION: SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE
“You will own nothing and you will be happy.” The World Economic Forum said it. Or did not say it. (technically speaking Klaus Schwab said it) It does not matter because the meme was true regardless of its origin. The sentiment describes the direction of travel. The end state of capitalism is not everyone owning a house and a car. It is everyone renting everything from a corporation that can revoke access at any time.
*(the phrase became a meme because it felt true. That is the only test that matters)._
The End of Ownership
You do not own your music. You subscribe to Spotify. You do not own your movies. You subscribe to Netflix and Disney+ and HBO and Apple TV and Amazon Prime and six other services that each cost fifteen dollars a month and together cost more than cable ever did. You do not own your books. You license them on Kindle. You do not own your software. You pay Adobe monthly for the privilege of using Photoshop.
You do not even own the games you bought. Steam can revoke your library. Sony can ban your account and your digital purchases vanish. The physical copy of a game requires a day-one patch and a server connection to play. When the server goes down, the game becomes a paperweight.
(the pirate who downloads a DRM-free copy owns their media more than the person who paid for it. This is a stable fact about the world. Let it sit).
The Car as Subscription
Cars are the newest frontier. BMW tried to charge a monthly fee for heated seats before public backlash stopped them. But the logic is already baked in. Modern cars are computers with wheels. The manufacturer can enable or disable features through software. Heated seats. Adaptive cruise control. Performance upgrades. All of it can be switched on or off based on what you pay.
Tesla already offers “Full Self-Driving” as a subscription. You pay $99 a month for the promise of autonomy. The hardware is already in the car. They just turn it off unless you keep paying. Your car has capabilities you cannot use because you will not pay the monthly ransom.
(this is the cyberpunk part. The hardware exists. The capability exists. The only barrier is the payment screen).
The House as Subscription
Housing is the most predatory subscription of all. Rent is a subscription for the right to exist indoors. In cities where property is owned by Blackstone and BlackRock, you are not a tenant. You are a subscriber. And the terms change every lease cycle.
The dream of homeownership is receding for an entire generation. Not because houses are too expensive in some abstract sense. Because the financial system is designed to extract maximum value from the flow of rent. A generation of landlords is better for capital than a generation of owners. Owners accumulate wealth. Renters generate income streams.
>> ASSET OWNERSHIP: PRIVILEGE OF THE PAST
>> SUBSCRIPTION MODEL: THE NEW LANDLORD
>> YOU RENT YOUR MUSIC, YOUR MOVIES, YOUR TOOLS
>> YOU WILL RENT YOUR CAR, YOUR HOUSE, YOUR LIFE
>> AND YOU WILL THANK THEM FOR THE CONVENIENCE
The Digital Land
The platform is the new landlord. If you sell on Etsy, Etsy owns the relationship with your customers. If you post on Instagram, Instagram owns the attention you generate. If you write on Medium, Medium owns the audience. You are a tenant on digital land that can be taken from you at any moment.
The algorithmic feed is the rent. You pay with your attention. You pay with your data. You pay with your labor. And in return, you get access to the platform. Access that can be revoked without explanation. Accounts suspended. Content demonetized. Algorithms changed. Entire businesses destroyed by a policy update.
(this is the grind. Building on land you do not own. Knowing the landlord can evict you at any moment. And calling it entrepreneurship).
The final stage of digital feudalism is when every aspect of your life is a subscription. Your entertainment. Your transportation. Your housing. Your tools. Your social connections. Your access to information. Everything is licensed. Nothing is owned. And the line between “you will own nothing” and “you are nothing” becomes very thin.
