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Enshittification
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| With Cory Doctorow (Author), Nate Loewentheil (Managing Commonweal Ventures). |
| Shared Upon Registration, Manhattan |
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Apr 29 (Wed) , 2026 @ 06:00 PM
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FREE |
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| DETAILS |
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Commonweal Ventures is thrilled to host Cory Doctorow for a discussion on his bestselling book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse & What to Do About It.
Doctorow, an author & activist whose work has focused on technology, digital rights, & corporate power, coined the term "enshittification" to describe how online platforms decay over time: first they lure users in with good products, then degrade those products to serve business customers, & finally squeeze everyone to maximize shareholder returns. The book argues this isn't inevitable. It traces how political conditions like weakened antitrust, captured regulators, & diminished worker power lead to platform decay, & what we can do to reverse them.
As Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, described the book: "Cory Doctorow is a genuine tech hero. He has encapsulated here much of what's going wrong with the internet, & he suggests how the spirit of the original internet might be brought back. This is a great book for those of us hoping to make things better for everyone."
Doctorow will be joined in conversation by Nate Loewentheil, managing partner of Commonweal Ventures & former Obama White House advisor. The discussion will be followed by audience Q&A.
Schedule:
6:00 PM - Doors open, networking
6:30 PM - Moderated conversation & audience Q&A
7:30 PM - Networking
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cory Doctorow is a journalist, activist, & science fiction author. He spent more than twenty years with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he served as European Director, & co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. He writes the newsletter Pluralistic & previously co-edited Boing Boing. His nonfiction includes The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (2023) & Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech & Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets & How We'll Win Them Back (2022). His fiction includes the Little Brother series & more than a dozen other novels.
In 2024, the Media Ecology Association awarded him the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, & Cornell University appointed him an A.D. White Professor-at-Large. The word "enshittification" was named word of the year in the United States, the United Kingdom, & Australia.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Nate Loewentheil is the Founder & Managing Partner of Commonweal Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in startups at the intersection of technology & government. He is an early-stage investor in companies like Robinhood & Roivant. He is a former Forbes 30 under 30 & Aspen Ideas Fellow & has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, & Fast Company, among many other outlets.
He served in the Obama White House as a Special Assistant to the President at the National Economic Council, where he advised President Obama on emerging technology. Nate holds a BA from Yale College & a JD from Yale Law School.
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