The internet was supposed to be the great equalizer. A global network that connected every human being on earth, gave everyone a voice, and created opportunity without borders. For a brief, shining moment in the 1990s, it looked like it might actually deliver on that promise.
Then the corporations arrived.
They figured out that connection could be monetized. That attention was a commodity. That the most intimate details of a human life — your conversations, your location, your health, your relationships, your fears, your purchases, your children's behavior — could be harvested, packaged, and sold to the highest bidder.
Within two decades, the internet transformed from humanity's greatest tool for connection into the most efficient wealth extraction machine ever built. Trillions of dollars flow upward annually — generated entirely by the people using these platforms — and not one cent flows back to the humans who created that value.