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Machiavelli on Acquiring Platforms

Chapter 3 of "The Prince" is about what happens when you take over what someone else built. In 2026, that's every platform acquisition you have ever quietly moved off of.

  • with Jannis Fedoruk-Betschki
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ARCHIVE · 5 EPISODES

Every episode.

In Defense of Structure — Federalist No. 83

Alexander Hamilton's longest Federalist essay is a masterclass in the design of dispute resolution — and it reads uncannily like a brief on how platform moderation should actually work.

Against the Center — Anti-Federalist No. 5

Anti-Federalist No. 5 argues that a large, centralised republic always outgrows the consent of the smaller communities inside it. It's an argument you'll recognise if you've watched a platform grow.

Thoreau, Blogger of Concord

Thoreau's argument beneath "Civil Disobedience" — that the individual conscience is prior to the state's machinery — reads oddly like a defence of anyone keeping their own channel.

Mill on the Marketplace of Ideas

John Stuart Mill made the case for free expression as a method — not just a right. In an era of algorithmic amplification, that argument is quietly doing more work than ever.

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