The Joe Reis Show

In this episode, I sit down with science fiction author, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow to unpack his viral concept of Enshitification, the three-act tragedy of platform decay:
1. be good to users
2. lock them in
3. extract value from users to feed advertisers and shareholders
We also dive into:
- The AI bubble: Cory’s case that parts of the sector are propped up by aggressive accounting and incentives, not durable value.
- The “Reverse Centaur”: How workers (from Amazon drivers to radiologists) are being reorganized to serve machine workflows, rather than machines serving humans.
- Software engineering vs. “vibe coding”: Why autocomplete isn’t engineering, and why AI can’t replace process knowledge and domain context.
- The Post-American Internet: What happens when the U.S. weaponizes platforms, and the rest of the world builds alternatives.
About Cory Doctorow: Cory is a multi-time international bestselling author, special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and creator of the blog/newsletter Pluralistic.
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Tech is full of smart people with smart ideas - enterprise data models, ontologies, data mesh, proprietary AI strategies - that repeatedly fail to gain traction. When they fail, the blame usually goes to "stupid users", "lazy and immature organizations." Perhaps, but I don't think that's the whole story, and if you adopt that mindset, you're sure to keep failing.
I think there's more to the story. Listen and find out...

In this episode, I visited the Hex office and sat down with Barry McCardle (CEO of Hex) to talk about the massive shift we’re seeing in the data stack. Countless companies have spent decades buying BI tools in the hope of "self-serve Nirvana," yet most dashboards still raise more questions than they answer.
Barry and I dive into why the traditional dashboard is becoming a "jumping-off point" rather than a destination, and how AI agents are finally closing the gap between having a question and getting a sophisticated answer.
We also discuss building tools people love, "commitment engineering", Barry's story, and much more.

What status game are you playing? Are you trying to outcompete others, or playing your own game? In this episode, I talk about status games in data and careers in general.

The technology industry is prone to moving fast and forgetting its history. This is a shame because our industry is built on the shoulders of many giants, often long forgotten.
Bill Inmon, Roger Whatley, and I discuss the history of technology and computing, covered in their new book, From Stone to Silicon. We talk about the big people and moments in technology and computing, and much more.

From Stone to Silicon (book): https://amzn.to/4pLfqat