What we need is de-enshittification
May 26, 2026
Last modified 5/30/2026
As we're neck-deep into late stage capitalism and the work is on the brink of eating itself into a pile of shit. What can we do to stop it? Easy, de-enshittify.
That's a load for sure.
A few things to make sure we're on the same page:
- This blog is more about musings than actual implementations. Usually. So, I am musing the fix. Not the how. Though, in this case, I have some early thoughts.
- Late-Stage Capitalism - While a Marxist concept and probably still rooted in what it theorized, today, culturally, we mean that corporate greed has gotten so bad that we're on the way of a few folks in charge of everything at the cost of everything, People like Bezos and Musk (the [in]famous ones) and a contingent of less popular but no less powerful folks doing so much for themselves at the cost of every other thing. Yes, you've seen this movie. Yet, we love to make it “real.”
- Enshittification, as officially coined by Cory Doctorow, is the process that every thing (service, physical product, etc.) eventually devolves into a shittier version of itself as it attempts to keep squeezing juice out of itself beyond what's capable of giving in a way that's “good.” I guess, like making clones :/ (as a side note, like many, I feel I saw this coming when things make of metal and would last forever, turned into plastic that broke and were unceremoniously replaced a couple years later).
One of the great examples of these two things together is every company that makes good money selling a product or service. We're talking sustainable forever kind of business. It employs humans. Many of them. It makes things that people need or want. If yo uleft this company alone it would continue humming along forever. Helping society by providing a product and employing humans while doing it. Additionally, paying taxes to local and federal governments.
This was a blue chip company before. You knew it was a great investment because it was a solid company. Your money would have sustainable growth and be ready for use in a few decades. It would not fail. Could not fail.
The ever-increasing pressure for growth has made companies do two what is inevitable a stupid decision:
- Diversify into markets it has no business getting into. This is because if you make widgets and widgets is all you do, how can you grow? You need to make Whatsits. For example: Spotify Partners With Bookshop.org and Debuts Page Match Feature to Bridge Physical, E-book, and Audio Formats — Spotify - yes Spotify will now sell physical books. You know shit is bad if the market thinks selling physical books is a growth opp for an online music service.
- Ensure that your widget doesn't last forever or can be turned into a service so that it does last forever. The most asinine version of this was the failed-but-attempted BMW Seat Warmer has a subscription.
This is going to sound somewhat socialist to some. And if it does – go hide in a cave because obviously you're broken. I mean that in a cheerfully we're all going to die and we're fucked way, so don't get offended.
Create a private company. It can have investors. Private investors. Silent partners. Promised a dividend. Or a payout in 20 years. Maybe a job. But private. No planned IPO, no public shareholders. Not beholden to others who have zero interest in the company.
Have a business plan that employes humans and makes money. A sustainable company make a widget.
Focus on making the best widget ever. Offer it at a price that allows decent living wages to all employees. A CEO that makes more money, but not 100X the lowest employee. Offer health benefits so that these employees want the company to succeed as much as the CEO.
It's not about maximum profitability at the cost of everything else. We don't have a group of people that rather make a buck today at the cost of the company tomorrow. The thirst to grow quarter over quarter is all-consuming at every level.
Reality Check
This doesn't imply that this “new” company has a great boss and it's kumbaya for all. We know that even small companies have owner's that will bleed its employees dry while they get fat. (if you weren't thinking socialism now, I'm sure your capitalist tummy is percolating now).
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