People have figured out business models to lock people in: Find what people want, deliver it, then become the intermediary. That is, cut them off from it without you.

The results

Now people think Facebook and American Airlines connect them with family even though they cut us off from them.

They we Instagram brings us friends even though it cuts us off from them.

We think restaurants bring food but they cut us off from it.

We think McDonald’s and Starbucks save time when they deprive us of it.

We think Google connects us to knowledge when it cuts us off from it.

We think cars and planes transport us to new places when they actually make everywhere the same.

We think the news brings us important facts when it obscures facts with outrage.

We think Netflix entertains us when it bores us.

We think solar and wind reduce pollution and depletion when they increase them.

You get the idea.

The big result:

The big result is what we do about all these things that cut us off from what we value: we fight to keep them when someone suggests taking them away.

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• My short conversation with a guy injecting heroin into his neck in broad daylight, steps from my front door →