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The Age of Extraction by Tim Wu

Event artwork for The Age of Extraction by Tim Wu
About this event

What to expect

Discuss Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction in central Bangkok on 16 November 2026, exploring tech platforms, AI and power.

Who controls the digital economy?

Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple do more than provide useful products: they influence what people see, shape choices and opinions, and extract vast amounts of money, data and attention. This book club meeting examines how these companies acquired such extraordinary reach, the mechanisms through which they exercise power, and what their dominance means for citizens and society.

Hosted by John S. for the Technology and Society Reading/Discussion – Bangkok group, the session centres on Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction. Wu, author of The Attention Merchants, former White House official and the scholar who coined the phrase “net neutrality”, offers a concise account of the rise of platform power and proposals for reclaiming control.

The discussion will draw on themes including:

  • How tech platforms manipulate attention and monetise online behaviour
  • The extraction of wealth, personal data and attention at global scale
  • Platform capitalism’s role in inequality and the creation of new economic classes
  • The risks and rewards of an economy shaped by digital platforms and AI
  • Generative AI, predictive social data, crypto and antimonopoly movements
  • Whether technological progress can support both economic growth and a more egalitarian society
  • How the internet’s early promise of widespread wealth and democracy gave way to concentrated power and the spread of autocracy

Format and preparation

This is a reading and discussion group, rather than a lecture or introductory presentation. Attendees should read The Age of Extraction beforehand or arrive with well-developed thoughts about its central topics. The format is best suited to readers, technologists and people interested in AI and society, technology policy, economics, digital rights and the social consequences of powerful online platforms. No particular technical skill level is specified, but participants should be ready to engage thoughtfully with the book’s arguments.…

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