Data Personhood

How to solve the wealth transfer from the average person to Big Tech feudal lords

“Rehoboam” — Supercomputer that allows a tech company in the fictional series Westworld to predict the path of everyone in the world by crunching their vast reserves of amassed data. Data is a powerful resource.

Big Tech companies make money by mining your data. They refine this data using machine learning then sell it for profit. This business model is okay for mining companies because they are mining rocks. But when the resource being mined is humans, is that okay?

Big Tech companies are basically middlemen that don’t pass the profits from selling your data to you. This makes the average human similar to a serf living on the digital property of Big Tech feudal lords — you receive no compensation for your hard work toiling to make the property of the feudal lords better. However, it’s dangerous to leave their property and fend for yourself. You can’t survive without the protection of feudal lords’ hired armies or the compelling digital services provided by Big Tech’s army of brilliant programmers. You won’t leave the status quo unless you have the resources to fend for yourself. We need to give people either the resources to fend for themselves, or a more equitable social contract between the average person and these Big Tech feudal lords (a la The Enlightenment). Not everyone can create their own digital services, so the latter is more likely (and has historical precedence).