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David Moscrop is a writer and political commentator. He hosts the podcast Open to Debate and is the author of Too Dumb For Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones.
As AI technologies spread, the next bold, brave frontier is not replacing labor but directing it. Rent A Human turns people into “meatsack” factotums and lackeys for algorithms, handing familiar elites a more efficient way to wield command.
AI is understood to be an unstoppable force, but it is still wholly dependent on human labor to function. Whether these technologies liberate or create misery will depend on who controls their development and deployment.
Backed by Silicon Valley–aligned venture capital and legal loopholes, prediction markets are creeping into every corner of life. They turn everything from measles outbreaks to government resignations to famine into opportunities for predatory speculation.
The leadership race in Canada’s New Democratic Party has exposed fractures between workers and professionals and between leader-driven branding and party democracy. Its survival as a serious left-wing force depends on successfully navigating these divides.
Automation was meant to lighten the load, not empty out the payroll. As Amazon axes 14,000 jobs and plans to cut tens of thousands more, the future of work under AI will depend on who owns the machines and what we, collectively, make them do.
As Canadian politicians proclaim their intention to protect national sovereignty, American shareholders are extracting revenues from Canada’s oil and gas industry — and stiffing workers.
Canadian ILWU president Rob Ashton is running for New Democratic Party leadership, arguing that the party has lost touch with its base. His campaign aims to put workers back in charge.
Most Giving Pledge dollars never reached the public, flowing instead to private foundations and donor-advised funds while billionaires grew richer, bought reputations for generosity, and handed back scraps to the people who made their fortunes.
The growing popularity of the “Bowie” bond — a security backed by royalties — may sound strange, but it’s nothing new. In treating songs like annuities, capitalists prove once again that nothing is too sacred, or silly, to be commodified.
Canada’s New Democratic Party once rallied workers around a bold social democratic vision. The leadership contest now unfolding shows a center left so busy virtue signaling it forgets how to build power.
Like past waves of automation, AI isn’t going away. Boom or bust, the fight is over whose interests it will serve.
Research shows that work shapes not only material life but also identity and community. If AI erases work as we know it, it could also erase the foundations of mass politics.
Culture warriors and industry lobbyists have turned electric vehicles into a proxy battle for deeper anxieties about class, control, and who might be left behind in a green economy. But most people just want a car they can afford.
Donald Trump’s tariffs may not amount to the end of neoliberalism. But their potential success — a sign that the neoliberal consensus is no longer hegemonic — suggests that the old world is dying, and the struggle over what replaces it has only just begun.
Democratic deliberation asks us to meet as moral equals, exchange reasons for our beliefs, consider evidence, and remain open to changing our minds. Evidence from real-world examples shows that it can reduce polarization and deepen public judgment.
To keep the US happy, Mark Carney’s Liberal government is pushing Bill C-2 — expanding surveillance, limiting refugee protections, and eroding privacy in the name of national security. It’s Canada’s own PATRIOT Act, minus the excuse of an actual attack.
Just over 100 days into his term, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is taking aim at the size of the state while ramping up military spending. He’s launched a whole-of-government review, pushing deep cuts, deregulation, and a $9 billion boost to defense.
Artificial intelligence technologies are leading us to a critical juncture, forcing a fundamental rethinking of both work and the welfare state. This is a field where early surrender, allowing capital to shape the future, is not an option.
The top 10% of earners account for almost half of all consumer spending in the United States. Wealth concentration has made economic stability shockingly reliant on elite consumption.
Nationalist backlash against Donald Trump helped stall right-wing populism. But Canadian workers are still drifting rightward, and the social democratic NDP is in shambles.