We are so far now from the elemental clarity of that world. We eat what algorithms plant. We live inside a system so vast and spectral that the gears are invisible but grind just the same. Our “disruptors” wear sneakers to board meetings and assure us they are changing the world, even as they enclose it, bit by bit, behind paywalls and patents.

We are told to be “optimistic,” to “look on the bright side,” as if history is a parlor trick we can wish away. As if the machinery of exploitation, once set in motion, will grind itself to a stop out of sheer boredom.

No. What matters is not optimism. It is courage.