New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses in 1958.
Getty Images
We always forget the truth about power. Every generation needs to be reminded again that it is not the person, not the office, but power that ultimately corrupts and distorts even the best character with the greatest intentions beyond repair.
I thought about this a lot while writing my novel the future. I've always been interested in writing about power, and most of my books are about how systems of power change us, and how we change them. the future The film is arguably about the most powerful individuals on the planet today: tech billionaires who operate largely without taxes or government restrictions, without time limits, without having to answer to those of us who are “citizens” of their online turf. How did they get there? Why is it so difficult to live outside the infrastructure they have created? How did you change them to become the center of so much power?
There was one book that made a huge difference in my thinking.
In 1974, Robert Caro published an extraordinary and unparalleled book, Power brokerWhich unveiled Robert Moses, the great builder of infrastructure – roads, bridges, parks, tunnels and public buildings – in New York City. People who knew him personally knew him to be a tyrant and a bully, a man whose plans had long since ceased to make sense except as a means of gaining more power.
Power broker It is 1,100 pages long, and yet it is so engaging and fascinating that one would be happy with a few hundred more pages. It shows that Moses started out as an idealist—a man who early in his career longed to build baby-changing stations in New York parks—but was so changed by power that he ended up stifling vital infrastructure projects because he couldn't. To be responsible for them. The questions written at the back of my copy are ones that I'm sure most readers have asked themselves as they make their way through: “How could this be stopped? What would it take?” And beyond that lies another question: How can we detect this early enough, And act in time now?
It happens that one learns from Caro at first with great fanfare. Man does what is purely good for society. Moses built a magnificent entertainment facility at Jones Beach, which revolutionized the lives of ordinary people. It's the same with tech billionaires. The benefits of communications technology over the past 20 years have been extraordinary. It would take too long to list them all, but some of the things that were science fiction when I was a kid are: free video calls; Animated maps that tell you exactly where you are; Instant access to books, music, art, and ideas from billions of people around the world. The ability to make connections, share ideas without limits, track down any item you need… these things are extraordinary. And good. Well, this is where it starts.
from Power broker We also learn that it never ends there. People who made popular things—important and wonderful things—would enjoy a great deal of freedom in the minds of the public. too much. So, when the next thing, and the next, isn't quite as good, it's easy for the audience to forgive them. People loved connecting with friends on Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, but not mining the data. oh well. People enjoyed seeing the Tesla, so many of Elon Musk's online fans can't accept experts' criticism of The Boring Company, or that he's making Twitter/X increasingly pushback, or that OpenAI, which he helped found, is among the companies that have been… Positioned to make thousands, if not millions, of jobs redundant. If Jeff Bezos' Amazon gets things done – or at least delivers them very quickly – the public imagination ignores the fact that the company has a virtual monopoly in many key areas.
Well, that's the way it goes. This is not – again – about the personality of the individual. It's about power. I wouldn't be able to think straight if I had that much power and money, and I never will. I will begin to believe that I achieved that power and wealth through my extraordinary brilliance without any luck at all, and that my interests and ideas better align with the needs of the whole world. My character flaws would be magnified, and my fragile self would become monstrous. These are the effects of energy toxicity.
Robert Moses knew that one way to gain power was to simply seize land: start building something, and then it would seem too difficult, too unpopular, and too wasteful to tear down and start over. This is the “move fast and break things” philosophy in Silicon Valley as well. Many things were built before the laws that would have governed them were even conceived, let alone written, let alone passed by the legislature.
What one learns from Robert Caro Power broker Is that the only way to stop this is through the checks and balances that come with laws. No one is important enough that the law should be made just for them. If the laws we have turn out to be inconsistent with our sense of justice and right in new situations, we need new laws.
If it seems unfair that companies providing the services we need can insist that we agree to give them all our data before we use it, then we need new laws. If it is not felt that very useful online translators are trained using the work of human translators, but without financial compensation for those humans, we need new laws. If it is a mistake that social media and other online companies, having invented the way in which we can share our thoughts and ideas – having invented, in fact, a new kind of briefcase for holding ideas – are demanding that social media and other online companies Now she takes ownership of those ideas to her advantage. Do as they please… Well, then we need new laws.
What one learns from reading Power broker It is the lengths one man can go when the public looks at the great things he has built without examining the damage he has caused. If we are all stuck in the media circus, in the culture wars, in heated situations…it would be useful to consider who owns the means of communication and who benefits when, instead of enacting new laws that would control them, we are all fascinated by their ability to distract.
Naomi Alderman the future, published by 4th Estate, is the latest New Scientist book club selection. Sign up and read with us here
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