2016: The Year that Wasn’t Normal ETC Group’s Year in Review
So you say you want a (fourth) the World Economic Forum trumpets the arrival of the so-called ‘fourth industrial revolution, well you know… revolution’ (hashtag 4IR) in which robots, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence are predicted to leave swathes of human labour awash sans wages.
For over a decade, ETC Group has been harping on about the coming “technological convergence” (the old term for #4IR, another ‘4’ that we called BANG — Bits, Atoms, Neurons and Genes) and the convergence is Source: Roy Export SAS with edits by ETC Group (and apologies) arriving on schedule. At the outset of 2016, Fashionably late and just in time for the Chinese the World Economic Forum predicted New Year of the Rooster, ETC Group once again (unsurprisingly) that #4IR will likely worsen offers a wake-up call and look-back at the last the gender gap and harm women’s work more thirteen months (spoiler: despite our best than men, and at year’s end, UNCTAD hopes, waiting the extra month didn’t make the reported that the effect of #4IR will (again, news any cheerier) unsurprisingly) hit developing country economies worse where up to 2/3 of all jobs Brexit to Slapstick with a BANG: After a may be replaced by robots. When the Davos rollercoaster year that spanned everything crowd gathered again this January 2017 to lick from Brexit to ‘Trumpxit’ to Leonard Cohen’s their wounds over the loss of beloved trade mortal exit, Naomi Klein best summed up the deals (TPP, TTIP — and good riddance to unusual place to which 2016 has brought us: them) we imagine that they also, despite one way or another, “the future is radical — pieties about lost jobs, began coalescing their we just have to decide what kind of radical we energies into waving the fig leaf of #4IR as want.” After one week, the new ‘leader of the plan B, and may increasingly offer it as a gene- free world’ is already staging an ominous re- edited olive branch to the new US enactment of Charlie Chaplin’s “the Great Administration. After all, who needs free Dictator.” Likewise, ETC is reminded that this movement of peoples or goods across past year was the 80th anniversary of Chaplin's borders when the workforce can be robotized other great work, “Modern Times,” in which and the economy digitized? Asked by the New workers were ruthlessly gobbled up and York Times if robots would replace or pre- turned to drones by the industrial machine. empt the workers who voted him in, Mr That theme too is now firmly back in vogue as Trump cheerily replied “They will, and we’ll
ETC Group’s 2016 Year in Review Page 1 of 12 make the robots too.” (Except that actually it Artificial Intelligence (AI) looks like China will.) Artificial markets: Two years ago, Kevin Kelly Newt Gingrich, one of Mr Trump’s leading of Wired argued that “the business plans of ’surrogates,’ has assured the tech community the next 10,000 start-ups are easy to forecast: that “this is going to be a very science- and Take X and add AI.” And in 2016, the AI market technology-oriented administration,” which in soared, expected to rise to $70 billion by late practice means that tech companies will 2020 and drive a $14–33 trillion impact within continue to call the shots in Washington. ten years. Indications are that seven familiar Tellingly, even before Mr. Trump went to companies will dominate the AI space: Apple, Washington, he summoned the top tier of Amazon, Alphabet (Google+), IBM, Facebook, twelve tech titans to the boardroom of Trump Tesla and Microsoft, five of whom are the Tower as a show of apostolic unity between Olympian ringmasters of the sparkling new his administration and Silicon Valley. The tech ‘Partnership for AI’ — and all of them were titans reportedly asked his administration to cloistered in the Trump tower tech summit. prioritise innovation in “agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing — Go, dodge, crash: 2016’s AI landmarks range everywhere.” In other words, the fourth from Google's DeepMind taking a break from industrial revolution was explicitly tabled. (He sorting cat photos to beat the world’s ‘Alpha got the hint — a few weeks later, Trump Go’ Champion Lee So Dol (and later covertly promised the New York Times, “robotics is beating all of China’s GO masters), to the becoming very big and we’re going to do runaway success of the ‘DoNotPay’ chatbot AI that.”) Pat Mooney (as usual) saw this coming that successfully contested over 160,000 back in 2005 when he declared that in the parking tickets in London and New York, future, “Technology trumps trade.” Only avoiding $4 million in fines. Of course, the dark maybe he mixed up the order of the words (as and stupid side of putting AI everywhere usual) and it turns out that what we really face emerged too. On 7 May 2016, Joshua Brown next is “Trump trades in technology.” Kudos became the first human known to be killed by to the San Francisco activists who, seeing who AI after his Tesla went underneath a truck in really pulls the strings, chose to protest the autopilot mode. As the year ended, Uber inauguration of America’s new Übermensch by admitted that its self driving cars already targeting Uber. (Not to mention the illegally cruising San Francisco streets were #DeleteUber movement!) running red lights and haven’t quite grasped the concept of bicycle lanes. With Uber’s CEO While at times 2016 felt a bit “too now appointed to advise the Trump real,” many themes ETC plucked administration, might there be potential for an from the years’ wreckage had one actual out-of-control ‘American car-nage’?. thing in common – a move toward Impressionable minds: On the domestic front, the artificial. Mark Zuckerberg proudly released a video showing his baby son Max left under the care of his own personal AI called Jarvis (voiced by
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Morgan Freeman). Children's rights groups climate debate. So far, the siren voices are sued to take creepy AI-enabled dolls off the mostly pushing Bioenergy with Carbon market because they were carrying out Capture and Storage (BECCS), even though a corporate surveillance of children 2016 report by the UN’s Biodiversity (#hellobarbie took center stage, but new My Convention has warned starkly that BECCS Friend Cayla is also creeping in). Most “seems likely to have significant negative embarrassingly, Microsoft released an online impacts on biodiversity through land use AI teen chatbot on Twitter, called Tay, who change.” Solar geoengineering is also within 24 hours of ‘life’ morphed into a foul stepping into the spotlight with the change in mouthed, sex-obsessed racist. Rumours that US politics. As the Obama administration Donald Trump’s twitter account is also a stepped out of the White House they Microsoft chatbot have not been confirmed. published a report explicitly proposing (And Twitter, we note, was not at the Trump geoengineering research. Meanwhile, Tower tech love-in.) prominent backers of geoengineering who may follow through on that proposal are now Artificial Climates stepping into the new administration, including Newt Gingrich (not in Trump’s The big melt: ETC would not be the first to cabinet, but still prominent in Republican point out that (unfortunately) climate change Party), incoming EPA lawyer David Schnare doesn’t go away while everything also gets and Exxon chairman Rex Tillerson, the newly- radical. In 2016, September finally broke the minted Secretary of State. Exxon was the string of 16 straight ‘hottest
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Sweden and New York, it seemed a new perversely accelerate gene drive releases by nutritious CRISPR product in development rendering the field more commercially was being announced monthly: chickens, interesting. Esvelt’s pronouncements on gene mushrooms, corn. The heavyweight patent drives swing erratically between eagerness bust-up of the year over who actually gets to and caution. We suspect he was behind the own CRISPR finally hit the courtroom in Broad Institute’s intriguing decision to December, and the licensing battle also got stipulate in Monsanto’s CRISPR licensing underway. Harvard’s Broad Institute/Editas agreement that they could not use CRISPR for licensed to Monsanto, while Berkley’s Doudna gene drives or terminator technology. ETC Lab/Caribou Biosciences licensed to DuPont Group is sceptical that withholding a few and Max Planck's Charpentier lab licensed to patent keys will stop corporate, military or syn bio leader Evolva. It also became clear that other interests from taking joy rides on gene a CRISPR-plus future is waiting in the wings — drives. several similar gene editing techniques with catchy names such as NgAgo and 16sRNA The movement against gene drives also grew became public this year, Monsanto licensed an in 2016. In June, the US National Academy of additional CRISPR variant (CPF1) and in an Sciences issued a surprisingly worried policy interesting twist in the CRISPR patent battle, report on gene drives, sounding strong Cellectis claimed their foundational patents cautionary notes. Civil society followed this up may undercut the whole gene editing field in September with a call for a moratorium including CRISPR. from 30 leading conservationists and environmentalists including Jane Goodall and Gene Drives: More out of control than a AI David Suzuki, which found further support Uber car is the rapidly emerging development from 170 organisations in another moratorium of gene drives — gene-edited organisms call in December. The IUCN World deliberately designed to spread in the wild by Conservation Congress in Hawaii in September sexual reproduction (sex drives?) to take over issued a resolution amounting to a de facto and crash wild populations and species. In moratorium on IUCN support for gene drive 2016, mega-foundations run by Bill Gates and research and development, and at the UN India’s Tata conglomerate each poured Biodiversity Convention (CBD) in Cancun in around $70–$75 million apiece into the gene December, gene drives careened onto the drive race. Investment-wise, the US Defense agenda propelled by strong concern from Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) African and Latin American countries. Despite is the dark horse, with an unknown amount a ground deployment of literally hundreds of invested in its ‘safe genes’ project, which biotech lobbyists in Cancun working with ostensibly aims to find ways to recall rogue Canada, Australia, Brazil and others to gene drives back out of the environment. In successfully see off a moratorium, the CBD other contingency plans to re-close Pandora’s Conference of the Parties nonetheless issued Box, in June, alpha gene drive jockey Kevin language sounding caution on gene drives. Esvelt of MIT introduced his safety idea of ‘local gene drives’ with his ‘daisy drive’ proposal. In ETC’s view, daisy drives may
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Digital biopiracy: DivSeek and destroy: Solazyme rebranded itself as Terravia, but Thankfully, the army of biotech lobbyists in might be better named Terra-bull after one of the Cancun UN biodiversity negotiations failed its algae ingredients was blamed for making to stop a significant decision that called for Soylent meal replacement consumers sick. the UN body to begin addressing the now-real Meanwhile, a GMO labelling bill was finally problems of digital biopiracy. (Where genetic passed in the USA decades after everywhere information is digitally sequenced in one else; however, it has so many holes that very location to enable synthetic biology and gene few GMOs will actually be labelled any time editing companies to make living copies soon. In cheerier news, the Non-GMO Project, elsewhere.) This ability to digitally transfer which certifies North American food products genomic information and then turn it back as not containing either GMOs or synthetic into biological reality evades (and may biology ingredients, is now applying its potentially destroy) the careful arrangements ‘butterfly’ label on over 43,000 verified set up internationally to rein in biopiracy. The products, representing over $20 Billion in Captain Hook of digital bioprivateers appears annual sales, and the US Organic Standards to be the poorly governed DivSeek project, Board decided on guidance that would see the headquartered in Canada, which aims to USDA exclude gene-edited and synthetic collect all the databases on crop biodiversity biology products from their organic standards into one handy location for digital biopirates. label. In 2016, investigations by Third World Network uncovered that DivSeek, possibly Molecular communication: Creeping onto the through the University of British Columbia, radar beyond syn bio is the emerging field of was [div]seeking $400,000 US from Syngenta ‘molecular communication,’ in which genetic and DuPont, offering privileged access to material and biological systems are harnessed sequences and patenting opportunities in as information carriers in a biological ‘internet exchange. Ouch. of living things.’ While “Mol Com” researchers practiced sending communication signals by Fake flavours and foods: In 2016, ETC created pheromones or encoding data in DNA, an MIT a searchable map of countries affected by syn experiment published in November 2016 bio’s fake flavour, fragrances and other began to show applications in agriculture and ingredients, co-authored a handy shoppers’ beyond by creating the world's first cybernetic guide and began to catalogue a worryingly spinach. Nanotubes were incorporated into long list of synbio ingredients now on or close spinach plants that allowed the plants to send to market (expect the full list in 2017). emails to a smartphone whenever the plants Companies creating Syn bio-derived animal encountered chemicals found in explosives. replacement products such as fake milk by “This is a novel demonstration of how we Perfect Day, fake eggs by Clara foods and fake have overcome the plant–human meat by Impossible Foods tried to organize communication barrier,” enthused the themselves into a new hi-tech investment researchers. Rumours that Donald Trump’s bubble, experimenting with various PR twitter account or Zuck’s AI babysitter are rebrands such as ‘cultured foods,’ ‘cellular really a spinach plant have not been agriculture’ or ‘clean foods.’ Syn bio company confirmed.
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farmer better from their desktop. In this 2016’s most frivolous biotech world, everything production related could revolutionaries: potentially be owned by one company (ETC’s prediction: the ‘jolly green giant’ will be John Born to booze: Vinome is a new startup Deere and Co). Of course, large-scale that claims to tailor wines to your genome industrial farms are the only ones with enough Moss deaf?: The crew at Taxa Biosciences capital to afford “the new normal” of failed to deliver glowing plants but now precision ag. think consumers will go for their patchouli-scented fragrant moss instead. What are some early applications of precision You can’t see it in the dark, but you can ag down home on the ranch? Check out smell it. Fujitsu’s Connected Cow project, the new Care for a light bite? In September, we SmartBarley or Blue River’s ‘lettuce bot’ to get learned that biohacker and dog breeder a flavour. Further up the food chain, groceries David Ishee had used CRISPR to may soon be delivered right to your door by inseminate mastiff dogs with glow-in-the- drone: in 2016 Amazon made its first “Prime dark genes. Air” delivery, sending popcorn and movies to a UK farmer (who, if AI farms achieve their Artificial agriculture vision, will have not much left to do but watch himself on the History Channel.) The futuristic food system: 2016 also saw #4IR Merger madness: ETC has been predicting this making waves in big ag, and precision new digital agricultural model for some years, agriculture is the name of the game. Big Data but in 2016 we saw that vision coming to life in frames the future of agriculture as one that the mess of mega-mergers that were harnesses “the mass of increasingly available announced among agricultural input sectors, information on the environmental, biological, both on center stage and behind the scenes. and human factors that govern crop growth There were some high-profile mergers and yield” (source) to help [large-scale announced up and down the agri-food chain in industrial] farmers grow crops more 2016. If the mergers between Dow–Dupont, efficiently. In this vision, drone sensors can Bayer–Monsanto, and ChemChina–Syngenta measure water, nutrients, and chemicals (the so-called ChemGens) and not stopped, across the field with a centimetre of precision, the input sector will switch from the current and that information gets fed into a ‘black ‘joy of six’ to something of a ménage à trois. box’ that determines exactly what proprietary In ETC’s view, these mergers are just the seeds to plant, when and how frequently to beginning, and foreshadow a second round of spray patented chemicals and when to plant mergers, with Big Data-enabled farm and harvest tailored gene-edited seeds. As machinery companies, aka DataMachs, pulling driverless tractors (farmbots) roam their the strings. More on this in our end-of-year ag fields, the data-driven farmer chills in their mergers update — it’s juicy stuff! kitchen sipping lattes and tracking everything on their iPad… or more realistically, the corporate executive can track and control the
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The issue of mergers and concentration and vote in Iceland on a platform of enacting their impacts on food security and nutrition digital direct democracy. More radical were was taken up at the UN’s Committee on World those standing for Australia’s new bitcoin- Food Security — not in an emergency debate inspired “Flux party,” who want to hand over as many civil society demanded (but a shout the business of governance to so-called out to the Sudanese Chair Amira Gornass for “delegative democracy’ where you vote for a supporting this effort!), but instead as a blockchain connected to a distributed smaller informal conversation between smartphone voting app. It may only be a governments… this is a space to watch in matter of time before somebody proposes 2017. handing the whole government enterprise over to Zuckerberg’s AI nanny, or maybe Knowledge is power, and ETC is working with DeepMind can govern between Alpha Go partners to raise awareness about the threats games. concentration poses to peasant farmers and agroecology around the world. Look out for Britcoin/artificial economies?: Speaking of the International Panel of Experts on Food blockchains, the cloud over Britain’s pending Systems’ (IPES-Food) upcoming report on EU exit may have a sterling lining. As the concentration in the agri-food industry. We’ll value of the pound sterling tumbled, Prime keep looking for opportunities to quash these Minister May has played up the country’s mergers in their tracks through 2017. potential as an independent technology leader — particularly in Fintech (financial “In the peasant’s dream of a fair future, work is technology). This comes as the Bank of still necessary. Work is the condition for England begins seriously flirting with the equality. (...) The peasant idea of equality feasibility of a Central Bank-issued Digital recognizes a world of scarcity, and its promise is Currency (CBDC). They are not alone. for mutual fraternal aid in struggling against According to the World Economic Forum, over this scarcity and a just sharing of what the work 24 countries are currently investing in DLT produces.” (digital ledger technology, aka blockchains) - John Berger, English writer, who in the 70s with $1.4 billion in investments over the past put the peasantry in the center of the three years. Around 100 central banks are world economic debate and the future of engaged in DLT discussions worldwide and humankind. Died on January 2, 2017. more than 90 corporations have joined blockchain consortia. 80% of banks are Artificial Governance?: predicted to initiate DLT projects by 2017.
If robots and AIs are taking over the fields and Global Tech governance: 2016 also saw the the factories, should we be concerned that first-ever meeting of the UN’s new confusingly they might occupy the legislatures, cabinets named STI Forum (in this case, STI stands for and negotiation halls? As 2016 ended with Science, Technology and Innovation, not allegations of cyberwar against the US Sexually Transmitted Infections) as well as the election, a curious digital-driven politics is initial work by the Secretary-General’s special rising. The Pirate Party received 14.5% of the ten-member group for the Technology
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Facilitation Mechanism (which includes ETC Amazonian Shuar Peoples expelled by the Group’s own Neth Daño). In Latin America, military for Explorcobres, a Chinese mining more than thirty civil society organisations, giant. The attempt was only cancelled after peasant and social movements and worldwide protests. responsible science groups banded together to launch the world’s first regional technology Campaigns to criminalize seed-saving assessment network, TECLA, to collaborate on continued in 2016, as farmers across Africa critical early evaluation of technologies and and Latin America fought secretive bilateral drive civil society participation in emerging trade deals and national legislation that drove global technology debates and governance. UPOV 91 to its logical conclusion: over four Meanwhile, in July, Janos Pasztor, the senior decades, the 12,000-year-old right to save and advisor to the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) exchange seed has slid from a right to a on climate change, established a new global privilege to a crime punished by publicly project on governance of geoengineering — financed police rather than challenged by another space to watch in 2017. privately funded lawyers.
Chilling of civil society: The criminalization of Comings and goings: Until the AIs take over, social movements and civil society the UN meanwhile is still shuffling governance organizations increased markedly during the gongs between human beings. For the first past year, particularly in Brazil, after it time in the history of the UN selection, social invented a new wave of the “judicial” coup media was tapped to involve broad civil d'etat. Indigenous peoples, peasants fighting society and citizens in the process of selecting for land, and environmental activists are the the new Secretary-General. Nobody alleged most pursued rights defenders. In 2016, a that cyberwar skewed these elections, but Global Witness report showed that the killing curiously 2016 seemed to be a bumper year for of land and environmental defenders (people European candidates across the UN system. struggling to defend their land, forest and Not only did we see a job change in the post rivers) continue to increase, with 186 killings in of UN Secretary General (goodbye Ban Ki 16 countries in 2015 — the highest annual Moon, hello António Guterres), but also death toll on record, and growing. The Executive Director of UNEP (goodbye Achim Philippines, Honduras, and Mexico are among Steiner, hello Erik Solheim) and Executive the most dangerous countries for land and Secretary of the Biodiversity Convention environmental defenders. Tragically, Goldman (goodbye Braulio Ferreira de Souza, hello Environmental Prize awardee and indigenous Cristiana Paşca Palmer). And although woman leader Berta Caceres was killed in UNFCCC leadership technically shifted from Honduras in March 2016, a crime that is still one Latin American to another (goodbye under impunity. Christiana Figueres, hello Patricia Espinosa) Espinosa is a diplomat who’s spent most of The Ecuadorian government tried to silence her career in Europe. The post of Executive the voice of the famous 30 year old Secretary to the FAO Commission of Genetic environmental organization Accion Ecológica Resources remains to be filled. We would like because they publicly defended the rights of to take a moment to especially thank Braulio
ETC Group’s 2016 Year in Review Page 8 of 12 at the CBD for his outstanding scientific to know things. At the UN Biodiversity integrity and personal passion. Despite his Convention in Cancun, Parties decided to best efforts, biodiversity isn’t doing so well, throttle the expert group on risk assessment but his legacy — and gift to his successor — is set up under the Cartagena Protocol and to a smart, skilled Secretariat that shares his jettison risk assessment guidance documents commitment. prepared for GMOs and synthetic biology by the world’s leading biosafety experts. Artificial knowledge: What we don’t Meanwhile, scientists in the US and Canada know: scrambled to archive the US EPA’s climate data before the Trump presidency declares all “Science is broken”?: In early 2016, William O. of it ‘fake news’ and in just the first few days Wilson and Pascal-Emmanual Gobry wrote of the Trump presidency, we have learned scathing pieces about the flaws of our current that the US Government’s Agricultural scientific method, revealing that a lot of what Research Service is now banned from publicly we think we know, we actually don’t. publishing its international reports monitoring Researchers looked at 67 high-profile/ trade, food and agriculture. So even when we ‘blockbuster’ drug discovery studies and know something, don’t tell anyone! found that three-quarters weren’t replicable. Another study of cancer research found that ETC’s pick for the best book of 2016: only 11 percent of preclinical cancer research could be reproduced. Why? Human error — Gordon, Robert J. The rise and fall of American lots of excel & basic math mistakes (in another growth: The US standard of living since the civil study, improper use of Microsoft Excel was war. Princeton University Press, 2016. blamed for errors in a fifth of gene studies Robert Gordon’s book is not just about the that use Excel to process data — and ‘outright USA nor is it just about the economy. It is a fraud’ that skews findings toward favourable cool and fact-filled indictment of capitalist outcomes. They also cited an ineffective innovation over the last half-century. scientific peer review process and that we are Surprisingly (and impressively), the book has producing new knowledge faster than we can garnered grudging respect from economists verify that it’s true. In the age of “alternative we thought would diss it. Gordon argues that facts,” we need all need to hold ourselves to the glory days of technological innovation more rigorous scientific standards and healthy roared into life following the American Civil scepticism. Maybe it’s time to make War but spluttered and faded a century later, compulsory the refreshingly blunt university around 1970. En route, the book looks at course which was proposed at University of developments in food and agriculture, health, Washington in 2016. Its title: ‘Calling bullshit in communications and transportation and piles the age of big data’ (or is that a precision data up persuasive data and accompanying app for tracking ruminant output?). anecdotes to show that the century’s Beyond learning that we don’t know what we enormous progress in public sanitation, thought we knew, in 2016 governments also vaccines and antibiotics combined with took steps backwards — actively choosing not greater access to fresher food served up
ETC Group’s 2016 Year in Review Page 9 of 12 health and life expectancy outcomes that the record-breaking near-$4 trillion US in mergers last near-half-century of physics and and acquisitions worldwide, the authors chemistry, biotechnology, and genome enthusiastically assure us that monopoly is the mapping haven’t come close to equaling. The “old normal” in new duds. The old advent of the radio and the telephone, Monopolies of the Gilded Age, of robber Gordon maintains, changed lives and barons and Rockefellers — the ones that the livelihoods far beyond Netflix, smart phones trust-busters and the anti-competition laws or even the Internet itself. For all of the tried to break up a century ago — haven’t technological hype of the last 50 years, and really changed, they just have a faster for better or worse, the passenger car and turnover. This, apparently, is a good thing. plane have impacted the world more than Strong competition laws and anti-cartel rules satellites and spaceflight. Gordon doesn’t may give the marketplace diversity now, but necessarily applaud the social outcomes of Modern Monopolies give us diversity through these technological changes: in fact, he is time. The price and power of new critical of much of what is happening to technologies, the authors insist, require global industrial foods and commercial assets and global access. AI, nanotech and pharmaceuticals — but while he Genomics are just too big. They need to be demonstrates the profound impact of Monopolies to be effective. But, where the changes most of us have taken for granted, he leaders in the Fortune 500 used to stay on top contrasts the 1870–1970 technological change for 50 or 60 years, the GEs, GMs and AT&Ts with the 1970–today hype of patchwork apps are surrendering to Apples and Amazons, who and models that create the illusion of scientific may already be yielding the right-of-way to breakthroughs now. In the last couple of Uber and unicorns as yet unborn. Don’t worry, years, other authors have pointed to the be happy. A quarter century ago, the research decline in startup companies, the shriveling of VP of a major seed company told us that the venture capital, and the withering of some convergence of seed and pesticide companies “next big thing” technologies, but Gordon might eliminate crop and genetic diversity provides the historical context that should now, but the new gene Giants would give make Silicon Valley shiver. While, yes, it does farmers even greater genetic diversity through focus on the US, Gordon’s book is filled with time. The pipeline he assured us was full even facts and anecdotes and written in a style that if the field looked a little forlorn. That’s not makes it hard to put down. how things turned out. The mega-mergers we are fighting today — which could mean that The worst book we read in 2016: three companies control 60% of global commercial seed sales and 71% of pesticide Moazed, Alex, and Nicholas L. Johnson. sales — have led to huge research costs and Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate few research results. Monopoly destroys the the 21st Century Economy. St. Martin's Press, incentive to innovate and, if the mergers go 2016. through, will leave the industrial food chain R&D with nothing more than Three Shades of Modern Monopolies is an infuriating book. Grey or even maybe one agritech über alles. Coming after a year (2015) that allowed a
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But, not to worry, we can still have pie in the Thank you, friends and allies, for your sky when we die — some monopolies never support through 2016’s rollercoaster. Like change. many in civil society, we too face challenges and bumps -- if you appreciate ETC’s work, Makers and Movers … Thank Yous please do consider supporting our continued and Goodbyes existence with a donation. Here’s to helping each other through another, ever more After more than three decades leading and radical, year. guiding the CS Fund, Roxanne Turnage stepped down as Executive Director and And here’s one more John Berger quote for handed over the reins to Bailey Malone in a good measure: thoughtful, planned transfer of power that TC “Hope is not a form of guarantee; it’s a Group hopes to soon emulate. No stranger to form of energy, and very frequently the CS Fund, Bailey has traditions to uphold that energy is strongest in but the world to change. In 2016, we were circumstances that are very dark.” saddened by the passing of Cathleen Kneen, much-missed matriarch of the Canadian Food Sovereignty movement and editor of the magnificent magazine The Ram’s Horn. In the course of her lifetime's work in food and social justice activism, she was chair of Food Secure Canada, and a leading light in developing a ‘People’s Food Policy’ for Canada which spurred even the Trudeau government to commit to a National Food Policy. A big congratulations to our allies at Friends Of the Earth International for electing Karin Nansen of REDES in Uruguay as their new fearless leader and to TWN (especially sleuth-in-chief Edward Hammond) for its investigative research uncovering DivSeek’s double dealings.
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ETC’s Random Predictions for 2017:
● ETC Group will launch an ingredient database of syn bio and GMO 2.0 ingredients in March, and an updated version of our popular stat-filled Who Will Feed Us? publication!
● After sorting cat photos, winning Alpha Go, designing biotech organisms and outfoxing ticket inspectors, the frontier of AI will move onto even thornier tasks: Zuckerberg’s AI nanny Jarvis will be called in by the UK government to negotiate Brexit, while Google’s DeepMind will be commandeered by the US government to sort out Donald Trump’s business conflicts.
● Pat Mooney will step down as executive director of ETC Group at the end of 2017, and will be succeeded by co-directors (it will take two to tidy up) — DeepMind and Jarvis? or Beavis and Butthead?? Ha! Not yet. It’s Neth Daño and Jim Thomas!
● The investment bubble to promote genetically engineered artificial animal replacements will make more name changes: from Cultured Foods followed by Clean Foods to Shiny, Slimy, Warm & Fuzzy Foods.
● To recover from the Soylent scandal, syn bio algae-maker Terravia/Solazyme will again rename itself (3rd time lucky?) Terraslyme.
● The Trump administration will turn out not to be climate deniers but instead climate engineers… or more likely, some internally-contradictory mix of the two.
● We’ll start hearing more about Molecular Communication, precision agriculture outsourcing to telepresence robots and AI everything everywhere.
● The European Union’s much-delayed legal advice on whether gene-edited products are GMOs (of course they are) will continue to be delayed and hidden from public view at the request of the biotech industry and the US government.
● Following a ground-truthed study, Bill Gates will fund a new gene drive strategy to protect Cyclops, dragons and unicorns
● ETC Group will move its international headquarters to the Philippines (actually, we established the office already this month) but the complete transition won’t be over until sometime after we get rid of Pat.
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