The New Digital Ruling Class

Have disrupters become the new digital ruling class?

Whew! It has been a wild twenty years. You remember how things were at the turn of the century. The web turned five. Google turned two. Zuckerberg was still in high school. The iPhone was not on the drawing boards. The dotcom bust was in full stride. Industries sensed disruption, but not direction. An online bookstore called Amazon began making moves. Everyone was bracing for change.

And then the change came.

Old media companies imploded. Book stores liquidated. Companies consolidated. Platforms disrupted. Information democratized. Commerce went mobile. It seemed everything went viral. Rooms, cars, gigs, and food delivered through an app. All in just a few decades.

Almost overnight, the internet evolved from being authentically distributed to being highly concentrated. The so-called FAANGs asserted control over some of the most fundemental dimensions of our global economy and local commerce. Let's be clear. These firms gained a dominant role because of fabulous innovation and remarkable ingenuity. And with a dominant few, a new order has been imposed on an otherwise unruly internet. We're operating with defacto governance in our hyperconnected world.

Is governance best rendered when concentrated among a few, or distributed among many?

For the markets we serve, we believe that information is best 'governed lightly' (in the words of John Locke) and communications between Brands and consumers are best handled through highly distributed and engaged parties. That's why we launched Strategic Machines, so that the parties with the greatest interest in serving customers could manage together. As a result, customers gain access to relevant and timely information. Being hyperconnected feels good again.

At Strategic Machines, we like to think of our platform as a blow for freedom! Give us a call and let's disrupt the disrupters. And show you how the foundation models we serve with your content puts you in control.