Information Capitalism is a system where private individuals and businesses own, control, and trade their data. The economic, political, and cultural activity of this system can be referred to as the Information Economy.

Understanding Information Capitalism

At the core of Information Capitalism is creativity. To easily understand Information Capitalism, think about how our universe works. This concept was drawn out by George Gilder in his book ‘Knowledge and Power’:

It is an engine of ideas, an information system, like an economy … the universe is not statistical. It is a singularity full of detailed and improbable information. It is a “Super Surprise.” … All the information for a random universe is equally applicable to one full of information and creativity.”

I like to think of both the universe and the economy as a giant surprise machine. Capitalism being the economic system that does not interfere with experiments and creativity.

Entrepreneurs are the scientists of the economy. Entrepreneurs apply their time and energy to create unique ideas that make the world better for the most possible people. A constant game of balancing risk and reward.

Informational Capitalism measures wealth as knowledge and growth as learning. Creativity is simply experimenting to gain new information to learn from. For maximum creativity, you need a system free of interference (capitalism). We can assume Informational Capitalism is very rational and efficient, since it involves the most minds taking into account the most total information.

Karl Marx lives

There is an obvious trend toward centrally planned (socialist) economies, particularly when it comes to consumer data. The government stopping Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is a prime example.

The argument is that the centrally planned economy is “more rational” or “ethical” way of protecting individuals and distributing wealth that is created by one person to another person who does not create. Those without any knowledge or expertise are making decisions for the masses without being held accountable for the damage they cause.

Government employees and academics (both of whom tend to be socialists) and sunsetting tech entrepreneurs use fear as way to maintain the monopoly of control. They believe they have attained all wisdom and knowledge necessary to lead humanity and should not be subject to competition. That’s because they do not believe individual creativity is valuable.

Karl Marx made the same mistake during the industrial era. Assuming that man has peaked and that we must no longer concern ourselves with wealth creation, only the redistribution of existing wealth.

Elon Marx and his band of techno-communists are the enemies of Information Capitalism. Large companies like Google and Twitter are willing to offer us “free” products, in return our data is sold in the back alleys of Silicon Valley and piped out over borders to Russia and China.

You see, Silicon Valley is the enemy of the state, and they aim to absorb the responsibilities of the state. The leaders of these companies also believe concepts like artificial intelligence and climate change are going to result in the end of mankind. They use these narratives to instill fear in the masses and increase their control. As these ideas spread like the plague, people become irrational with fear.

The government will be the hero saving us from this gloom and doom with their great policy for the good of the people. These same policies will funnel billions of taxpayer money into the pockets of Elon Marx, Sergey Brin, and Jeff Bezos. It’s all in the name of “public good”, of course.

We can save ourselves

The tax bailout of this decade will be big tech. Silicon Valley tech companies are becoming one with government. And they need you to agree with it. It is natural, after all, that information becomes a matter of National Security. We the taxpayers must foot the bill to protect our own data from the terrorists, right?

The wars of tomorrow are no longer being fought with sword and shield. They are being fought behind computers, with dark forces corrupting our thoughts and trust from within our own systems. The truth is, these companies have never empowered the individual. They made the situation worse. The Vulture Capital mindset of taking large sums of investor money and offering “free” services to exploit the individual has always been the case. This is particularly true of Jack Dorsey and Twitter.

There is no need for our Silicon Valley overlords to “save us”. Even more so, the call for government intervention is completely unnecessary for us to accomplish our goals of having a more efficient and peaceful world. In fact, these entities are the very forces that are stopping from improving the world. Today’s problems are economic problems. Not problems of human nature or policy. Information Capitalism is what will set us a free from the dark hands of big corporations and corrupt government.

The future is bright

Contrary to the big tech cartel, I believe we are about to enter one of the most prosperous and peaceful times in human existence. Mostly due to a few optimistic entrepreneurs implementing the Information Capitalism vision.

In an era where your ability to accumulate wealth is associated with how close you are to those who print the money, there is salvation. The new concept of Information Capitalism gives us a fresh insight into monetary policy, our stagnating economic system, and problems of the legacy internet model. It gives individuals control of their property and empowers them economically by allowing them to trade their information freely.

We need to build the internet within a new system for Information Capitalism to be realized.

This system is called Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the foundation of Information Capitalism. With it, we have a simple protocol to build complex systems. A new version of the internet with security, money, and computation all built in. In order for Information Capitalism to thrive and elevate us from a world of control, we need a system that is authentic and reliable as a measure of economic activity. This is exactly what Bitcoin provides us.

Before Bitcoin, internet users had no way to control and profit from their information. They relied on large corporations to offer “free” products, in return they got aggressive ads and shady deals for their information. The user never saw a dime from it.

Because Bitcoin is an auditable digital cash system, we can hold accountable those who are destructive to our Earth, we can hold government and large corporations accountable for their spending, all while enriching those who are honest and provide value.

With Bitcoin, we are able to embed data within transactions, and unlock the ability to truly own your own data. I am building Twetch to further this idea, putting control back into the user’s hands and empowering the individual economically. With Bitcoin, the new internet where every user can profit directly from their information can be created.

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