Virgin Unite

From the out-of-nowhere victory of Donald Trump, to the insurgency of movements like #MeToo, to the growing power of platforms like Facebook to tweak our daily thoughts, feelings and habits.

Of course technology is changing, but we are also changing. To really understand what’s happening around us, we need to reckon not with changes in technology, but shifts in power.

Most of us grew up in a world built on old power. We had relatively little agency. Institutions like schools or the factory floor set narrow terms of engagement. We complied. We consumed. We paid our dues and played our part. It was a world built largely on “download”.

But in the early 21st century our ubiquitous connectivity has handed us what we can think of the new “means of participation”.

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