OC ACXLW Meetup: “Platforms, AI, and the Cost of Progress” – Saturday, July 12 2025
 98ᵗʰ weekly meetup

Event Details

• Date: Saturday, July 12 · 2 pm → after 5 pm
  
   
• Location: 1970 Port Laurent Pl, Newport Beach CA 92660-7117
  
   
• Host / contact: Michael Michalchik — michaelmichalchik@gmail.com · 949-375-2045
  
   
• Parking: Free street parking (please keep driveways clear).
  
   
• Food: Light snacks & water provided. Bring something to share if you’d like.
  
   

Introduction

Last week we tackled secret ballots and secret genes. This time we zoom out to the larger tech ecosystem: why our favorite platforms rot over time and how the AI gold rush risks repeating the same extractive playbook. Cory Doctorow dissects “enshittification,” while Douglas Rushkoff asks whether AI is just another dumbwaiter—hiding labor and propping up monopolies. Expect a spirited look at network effects, hidden costs, and the paths not yet taken.

Discussion Topics

Set 1 — Enshittification & the Platform Death-Spiral

The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok – Cory Doctorow (Wired, Jan 23 2023)

• Text link: The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok
  
   
  • URL: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/
    
     
• Audio (embedded in article via Wired player)
  
   

Summary — Doctorow’s three-stage life-cycle: (1) platforms lavish perks on users, (2) shift perks to business customers once users are locked in, (3) finally squeeze both sides for shareholder gains until the service collapses into “a useless pile of 💩.” Amazon, Facebook, and now TikTok illustrate the pattern. The cure: interoperability and easy exit so users and creators can walk away before the squeeze.

Conversation sparks

1. Is enshittification destiny for every venture-funded platform, or can alternative ownership models break the cycle?
   
    
2. Would mandated open APIs/data portability actually keep platforms honest, or just introduce new security headaches?
   
    
3. What personal tipping point makes you leave a degraded service—even if friends or livelihood are tied to it?
   
    

Set 2 — AI as the New Dumbwaiter

Is AI the Next Dumbwaiter? – Douglas Rushkoff (Substack, Jul 6 2025)

• Text link: Is AI the Next Dumbwaiter?
  
   
  • URL: https://rushkoff.substack.com/p/is-ai-the-next-dumbwaiter
    
     

Summary — Rushkoff argues today’s AI boom is reactionary: tech titans use generative models to reinforce the same extractive hierarchies that prior “revolutions” (industrial, internet) ultimately served. AI masks labor (data taggers, cobalt miners) just as the dumbwaiter hid enslaved workers. Yet the disruption—or “wobble”—also exposes cracks in jobs, education, and language. If we seize that wobble, AI could foster more humane, pluralist systems; if not, it will simply upscale colonial extraction while elites entrench their dominance.

Conversation sparks

1. Hidden labor: does revealing the human toil behind “automated” AI change how we value or regulate it?
   
    
2. Jobs vs. livelihood: if AI hollows out employment, should we decouple income from work (UBI, social dividends)?
   
    
3. Education: can AI’s threat to assessment push universities back toward inquiry-driven learning, or will it fuel more surveillance?
   
    
4. Language limits: could AI help us invent new linguistic frameworks that escape subject-object hierarchy, or will LLMs fossilize the old ones?
   
    
5. Generative vs. extractive futures: what concrete structures (co-ops, public stacks, data trusts) might steer AI toward shared benefit?
   
    

Flow of the Afternoon

• 2:00 – 2:30 pm Arrivals, name tags, backyard shade-seeking
  
   
• 2:30 – 3:15 pm One-sentence self-intros & recent “mind-blown” moments
  
   
• 3:15 – 4:30 pm Group dive: Set 1 → Set 2 (order flexes with energy)
  
   
• 4:30 – 5:00 pm Snack break, side chats, whiteboard tangents
  
   
• 5:00 pm → ? Casual continuation or dinner run
  
   

(Times are soft; we follow the interest gradient.)

House Reminders

• Good-faith steel-manning before critique; Chatham House Rule applies.
  
   
• Patio & nearby park are available for breaks.
  
   
• RSVP by quick email/text if possible—spontaneous arrivals welcome.
  
   

See you on July 12ᵗʰ!