Growing up in Toronto, Tim Wu had a classmate who was the progeny of Communist parents. His name was Cory Doctorow. Yes, the same guy who just published a book about enshittification . Though they shared a general world view, the boyhood pals also had arguments, with Wu typically taking a less radical stance than his buddy. “I read the Communist Manifesto in the eighth grade,” says Doctorow. “It was pretty reasonable.” Though the pair lost touch, they reconnected over the last couple of decades and are now friendlier than ever.

The relationship is worth mentioning because Wu —law professor, former FTC adviser, and Joe Biden’s special assistant for technology and competition policy—just published a book called The Age of Extraction —a high-minded companion to Doctorow’s gritty p

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