As much as I like Doctorow,
Max Headroom’s authors were a few steps ahead of current thinking way back in 1988. (S2E13: “Lessons”)
The end game has nothing to do with limiting piracy or controlling political speech. Those are just a means to an end.
Ultimately, there will always be some people in power whose goals are illiteracy and weaponizing general purpose computation.
This phenomenon is not new. We produce more food than humanity needs, but warlords and first world governments routinely cause famines by weaponizing food distribution.
The end game has nothing to do with limiting piracy or controlling political speech. Those are just a means to an end.
Ultimately, there will always be some people in power whose goals are illiteracy and weaponizing general purpose computation.
This phenomenon is not new. We produce more food than humanity needs, but warlords and first world governments routinely cause famines by weaponizing food distribution.