gatekeepers unhinged 'the biggest tech companies are, among other things, the most powerful gatekeepers the world has ever known. google helps us sort the internet by providing a sense of hierarchy to information. facebook uses its algorithms and its intricate understanding of our social circles to sort the news we encounter; amazon bestrides book publishing with its overwhelming hold on that market. such dominance endows these companies with the ability to remake the markets they control. as with the food giants, the big tech companies have given rise to a new science that aims to construct products that pander to the tastes of their consumers. they want to overhaul the entire chain of cultural production, so that they can capture greater profit. intellectuals, freelance writers, investigative journalists, and midlist novelists are the analog to the family farmers, who have always struggled but simply can't compete in the transformed economy. in the realm of knowledge, monopoly and conformism are inseparable perils. monopoly is the danger that a powerful firm will use its dominance to squash the diversity of competition. conformism is the danger that one of those monopolistic firms, intentionally (googles censorship of youtube) or inadvertently, will use its dominance to squash diversity of opinion and taste. concentration is followed by homogenization. with food, we only belatedly understood this pattern.' -franklin foer 171218 what's it to you? who go blather from