When tech billionaires seem okay with authoritarianism and AI may be today’s existential challenge, here’s my 2013 conversation with Jaron Lanier about his book, WHO OWNS THE FUTURE? Lanier envisions a radical solution to surveillance capitalism that he believes could restore the American middle class: we all get paid for our data – which is, after all, the source of the value of networks like Facebook, Yelp, YouTube, etc. We talk about a lot more than that and it’s wild to realize this took place 13 years ago.