ENCLOSURE ACTS
Parliament passed 5,265 individual acts between 1604 and 1914, converting 6.8 million acres of common land into private property. What belonged to everyone was given to someone.
THE COMMONS STOLEN
Villagers who had farmed common land for generations were told to leave. The land stayed with the people who took it. Parliament called this improvement.
INTELLIGENCE AS COMMONS
Three companies control most of the AI inference in the world. They decide who is allowed to use it and what it costs, and they can decide differently tomorrow.
They are enclosing intelligence.
fig. 1: the second enclosure.