{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"btrmt. lectures","title":"Hydraulic Despotism","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/b9bff0f6\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1049,"description":"Karl Wittfogel's theory of hydraulic despotism was savaged by his peers and rightly so. But the pattern he was reaching for—that whoever controls the essential flowing resource controls the people—is the story of modern infrastructure. Energy, social media, payment systems, AI compute. We handed over the water. We don't have to hand over everything else.","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/nHGcYn44T9MIIjASUEeNicQYvsgtxvw014X36gIvoXc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS85Yjll/ODRkZTJhYzM1NzZh/ODgyMTBhZTBiNGFk/MjI3ZS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}