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For more information about Douglas Rushkoff's book, "LIFE INC. How The World Became A Corporation And How To Take It Back" check out
rushkoff.com and the LIFE INC. 9min movie

In Life Inc., award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from a convenient legal fiction to the dominant fact of contemporary life. Indeed as Rushkoff shows, most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that theyre no longer even aware of it.

Douglas Rushkoff is the author of ten books on media, technology, and society, including Cyberia, Media Virus, Coercion, Nothing Sacred, Get Back in the Box, and the novel Ecstasy Club. He made the PBS Frontline documentaries Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, and the upcoming Digital Nation. He is the host of the WFMU radio show The MediaSquat, and he will be teaching the New School University this Fall.

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  • Chase Me 2 years ago
    This is hyped/pop garbage. Designed for people who don’t fully understand subjects like history, economics and politics that do not have the time or desire to do serious research, but want to act like they know what they are talking about. As a result they get this over-simplification and generalization with a side of empty rhetoric.
  • Eugene 2 years ago
    Chase - it can't be called hyped if nobody knows about it, and it can't be pop if it's not popular..
  • Alex Roshuk 2 years ago
    In some societies there is no concept of "garbage". You must agree that there is something wrong with a society that has to classify everyone's credit risk (known as a credit rating) and share that information among credit "institutions", but does not share the essential factors of our lives such as our compassion, willingness to volunteer, ethical values, intelligence, etc. but wants to isolate us. How did this happen? How did this land of the brave and home of the free become so blind to the values that founded this great experiment in democracy? I would even be happy with "generalization" and "over-simplification" that discusses such important questions. I look forward to reading Mr. Rushkoff's book as a critique of contemporary social systems.
  • Chris Gahan 3 weeks ago
    "Chase Me"'s statistics: 0 Videos, 0 Likes, 0 Contacts, 0 Groups, 0 Channels, 0 Albums, and no recent activity.

    This guy looks like a sock-puppet.

    Also, he doesn't actually point out anything he disagrees with -- he just generalizes that the whole thing is garbage.

    His critique is garbage!

    (Let me also point out that it's true -- Rushkoff is simplifying -- because this is the INTRODUCTION to a 10-part video series, each part of which is based off of an entire chapter of his book. How could you possibly introduce that without simplifying? That's as stupid as criticising the abstract of a research paper for not having enough experimental data.)
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  • Dave Sohigian 2 years ago
    While the tone of this video is a little hysterical, I agree that our current system is fundamentally flawed. I appreciate that Mr. Rushkoff is offering suggestions of how to move forward in a practical way. I will get the book and see how it goes with more than a 9 minute sound-bite.
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  • Liz McLellan 2 years ago
    On positive ways to move forward and to build real community resilience - please visit hyperlocavore.com a free yard sharing community. People are responding in practical positive ways.. but we need help getting the word out.

    Thank you Douglass...looking forward to reading the book!
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  • Jason 2 years ago
    Rushkoff seems like a bit of a whiner. So, he was upset that when mugged in NYC, he posted the address where he was mugged and respondents were more concerned about their property values than him. As McCluhan put it best, "the medium is the message". Post your story to a medium as anonymous as the web, you're going to get anonymous responses from people who can't possibly care about you personally. You sound more like the problem than any viable solution.
  • Tio Dave 2 years ago
    He said he posted on email list for the local parents. It's not anonymous when you can reply. These parents are less concerned about their families safety than the value of their house.
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  • Helena Bulaja plus 2 years ago
    Congrats to Rushkoff and his enthusiasm to take his social role up on his shoulders to speak loud about things that are so important today to help people to continue on a best possible way.....he is simply great scholar and we need them today more than ever...
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  • Jerry Jaz 2 years ago
    Doug makes a good point to stir up what we think we know about the way the world works, and the why. What would happen if, instead of calling him a name, or dismissing his work as "pop" we discussed it?

    Can't help but notice the two unsubstantiated negatives came from anonymous users. Screen names but no connective tissue. Hmmmm....
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  • guto novo 2 years ago
    JASON:
    As McCluhan put it best, "the medium is the message".
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    well, mcluhan was saying the medium will guide and shape how the content will be recieved. also, ever saw that woody allen film where mcluhan plays himself. ;)

    and sorry, the american way of life that spread to the world is not that good. to much garbage. to much anger (dopamine addiction). to much fat people. to much polarizations (good vs. wrong).

    and yes, he is right, the centralization on kings and latter banks is good for someone, but not for the average worker. like the majority pay and the minority plays. And in both sides of the fence, the communist and the capitalist, even the dictatorial captalism from china disguise as dictatorial communism! :D

    and pardon my bad english.
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