The free digital universe was produced by political decisions, not inevitability

Evidence

Things did not have to take this shape. It bears saying up front—things could have been different. But the fact of the matter is this: Over the last thirty years, the explosive growth of the internet and the global proliferation of data devices have converged with a series of shortsighted political decisions; along the way, the shrewd initiative of a generation of tech entrepreneurs has produced, in effect, an ostensibly “free” digital universe—whose hidden operating cost is the depletion and pollution of the minds and senses of its users. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 82

Categorization

• DEFINE: This frames attention economics as politically contingent rather than natural evolution, anchoring the manifesto’s diagnosis.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the…, 82
• XREF: connects to: Democratic institutions can successfully reclaim authority over the digital future from private power. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 185; Big Tech’s control of digital identity is a deliberate US government political choice — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 303; Technology’s liberating or enslaving character is decided politically, not intrinsic — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 63 (+2 more)