S03E34 - Cecilia Rikap on Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism and Corporate Power in the Age of AI

Cecilia Rikap explains how today’s big tech hegemons build
intellectual monopolies and use their power for corporate
planning beyond ownership.


This episode was recorded during a live event with Cecilia Rikap,
hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation Berlin. Many thanks to
everybody involved!


For information on the event, see:
https://www.rosalux.de/en/event/es_detail/2MGCX


---


If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these
resources might be of help:


Democratic planning – an information website


https://www.democratic-planning.com/


Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic
Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue
1.


https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1


Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction -
Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol
University Press. [for a review copy, please contact:
amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


International Network for Democratic Economic Planning


https://www.indep.network/


Democratic Planning Research Platform:


https://www.planningresearch.net/


---


Shownotes


Cecilia Rikap at University College London (UCL):


https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/94616-cecilia-rikap


Cecilias upcoming book:


Rikap, C. (2025). The Rulers. Corporate Power in the Age of AI
and the Cloud. Verso Books.


https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790833/the-rulers-by-cecilia-rikap/


Rikap, C., & Lundvall, B.-Å. (2021). The Digital Innovation
Race: Conceptualizing the Emerging New World Order. Springer
Nature.


https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-89443-6#overview


Rikap, C. (2021). Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual
Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered. Routledge.


https://www.routledge.com/Capitalism-Power-and-Innovation-Intellectual-Monopoly-Capitalism-Uncovered/Rikap/p/book/9780367750299?srsltid=AfmBOoohn2o3_THE5S57rt4kTs62Fp3kv5AUNj8rUTdn7ywK9LFhfEro


Rikap C., Durand, C., Paraná, E., Gerbaudo, P. and
Marx P. (2024). Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: A
Roadmap to build a Digital Stack for People and the Planet.


https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2024/dec/reclaiming-digital-sovereignty


Bensussan, H., Durand, C., Rikap, C. (2023) 100 years of
Corporate Planning. From Industrial Capitalism to Intellectual
Monopoly Capitalism through the lenses of the Harvard Business
Review (1922-2021).


https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:171107


Rikap, C. (2023) Mapping the Cloud. Big Tech taking the Sky by
Storm. CITYPERC Working Paper, No. 2023-05.


https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/280831


Rikap, C. (2024) From Planning AI to Planning the Green
Transition. Intellectual Monopolization amid the ecological
breakdown.


https://youtu.be/cckqeiwXuHA?si=N3lRKBiN-KVQaXyA


Rikap, C. (2022) Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism. Knowledge
Predation and Corporate Planning in the 21st Century.


https://www.youtube.com/live/VMU1IHm8838?si=jiOLSryWIyM9NvYL


Rikap, C. (2022) Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism. How Big Tech
Companies became the World’s largest Planners.


https://youtu.be/4va-JedZGQA?si=0p_Lm-CJ-mbK6GoN


on the concept of Value Chains:


https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/education/graduate-study/pgcerts/value-chain-defs


on “demand sensing”:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_sensing


on the concept of „the stack” and its relation to states:


Bratton, B. H. (2016). The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty.
MIT Press.


https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262029575/the-stack/


on Doge and its cutting of jobs at US government agencies:


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o


on Lina Kahn, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
under Biden and her policy efforts (including antitrust laws
against Big Tech):


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Khan


on the different political strands coming together in the current
Trump Administration, including the influence of Curtis Yarvin:


https://youtu.be/YIPWekMahXc?si=mcY_ntC1-etzulF5


on Yann leCun:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_LeCun


 


Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics


S03E24 | Grace Blakeley on Capitalist Planning and its
Alternatives


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e24-grace-blakeley-on-capitalist-planning-and-its-alternatives/


S02E44 | Evgeny Morozov on Discovery Beyond Competition


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e44-evgeny-morozov-on-discovery-beyond-competition/


S01E45 | Benjamin Bratton on Synthetic Catallaxies, Platforms or
Platforms & Red Futurism (Part 2/2)


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e45-benjamin-bratton-on-synthetic-catallaxies-platforms-of-platforms-red-futurism-part-2-2/


S01E44 | Benjamin Bratton on Synthetic Catallaxies, Platforms or
Platforms & Red Futurism (Part 1/2)


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e44-benjamin-bratton-on-synthetic-catallaxies-platforms-of-platforms-red-futurism-part-1-2/


S01E42 | Moira Weigel on Palantir, Tech-Nationalism &
Aggression in the Life-World


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e42-moira-weigel-on-palantir-tech-nationalism-aggression-in-the-life-world/


 


Future Histories Contact & Support


If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on
Patreon:


https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories


Contact: office@futurehistories.today


Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureHpodcast


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/


Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories


English webpage:


https://futurehistories-international.com


 


Episode Keywords


#CeciliaRikap, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories,
#futurehistoriesinternational, #FutureHistoriesInternational,
#BigTech, #CapitalistPlanning, #Monopolies, #PlatformCapitalism,
#ProgressivePolitics, #EconomicPlanning, #TechnoPolitics,
#Capitalism, #BigData, #TheStack, #Platform, #DataPolitics,
#TechNationalism, #Techno-Nationalism, #PeterThiel,
#SiliconValley, #Palantir, #CurtisYarvin,
#IntellectualMonopolies, #KnowledgeCapitalism, #TechSovereignty,
#DataColonialism, #AiAndCapitalism, #TechnoFeudalism,
#IntellectualPropertyRegimes