the corporation of the future will look more like an investment fund or Hollywood studio; instead of a stable hierarchical organization, it will be a dynamic and amorphous portfolio of bets on creative projects and individual people.

In the 21st Century, the basic financial entity is the individual. Individuals are exposed to the whims of the market directly, incentivizing them to suppress their own personality and emotions in order to "be themselves" in a way that is likely to generate the highest financial return.

This means creators and entrepreneurs are freer than ever. But it also means they are trapped in an invisible financial machine that encourages them to completely forget who they are, to become the person that the market needs them to be.

creators and entrepreneurs are freer than ever. But it also means they are trapped in an invisible financial machine that encourages them to completely forget who they are, to become the person that the market needs them to be. The most obvious examples of this are platforms like OnlyFans and Instagram, where people make money being "authentic" — but where being authentic means constantly responding to feedback from thousands of customers and market signals.

The same process and incentive structure will gradually dominate all our interactions, blurring the distinction between life and work, between "emotional labor" and "being ourselves". Marx worried that industrialization was stripping humans of their individuality and turning them into economic inputs. Now, the division of labor requires us to be individuals and economic inputs at the same time.