Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
This episode of Writer’s Voice features two leading voices confronting the defining challenges of the 21st century — corporate monopolization and climate breakdown.
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Cory Doctorow, author of
Enshittification, reveals the hidden mechanics behind the digital decay of our online platforms — how they move from serving users to exploiting them, and what systemic reforms, from antitrust enforcement to tech worker unions, can reverse the trend.
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Bill McKibben, author of
Here Comes The Sun, shares an unexpectedly hopeful vision for the climate movement, documenting how plummeting solar and wind costs are reshaping economies worldwide and creating a moral turning point for civilization itself.
Together, these conversations show that both the digital and planetary crises share a root cause — the concentration of power — and that the path forward lies in collective action, technological democratization, and the reclaiming of our common future.
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Key Words: Cory Doctorow, enshittification, Big Tech, Amazon, Google, Facebook, antitrust, AI bubble, Electronic Frontier Foundation, EFA, digital rights, surveillance capitalism, Bill McKibben, Here Comes The Sun, climate change, renewable energy, solar power, wind energy, batteries, climate justice, energy transition, balcony solar, climate hope
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READ THE TRANSCRIPT
Segment One: Cory Doctorow — “Enshittification”
Cory Doctorow unpacks the viral term he coined — enshittification — and the systemic forces that make once-beloved platforms like Amazon, Google, and Facebook “turn to crap.” He explains the three-stage process by which tech companies exploit users, businesses, and workers; how weakened antitrust enforcement and regulatory capture enabled the digital monopolies; and why true resistance requires organized collective action — not just individual boycotts.
“Publishers, users, advertisers — everyone’s getting it in the neck. That’s the third stage of enshittification.” — Cory Doctorow
He calls for stronger labor organizing among tech workers, international trade reforms that liberate users from proprietary tech restrictions, and a cultural shift away from “voting with our wallets” toward building movements for digital rights.
