Kean Birch
@keanbirch.bsky.social
Ontario Research Chair in Science Policy
Obsessed with assets & assetization + into science & technology studies, political economy, economic sociology: https://keanbirch.net/
Obsessed with assets & assetization + into science & technology studies, political economy, economic sociology: https://keanbirch.net/
I use Neumann as a starting point for considering the #techoligarchy || www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIA...
Kean Birch, The Rise of a Tech Oligarchy (2025), Osgoode Law School
YouTube video by Richard A. Jarrell Fund
www.youtube.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:24 PM
I use Neumann as a starting point for considering the #techoligarchy || www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIA...
Looks like it's going to be great - the Adam Neumann & WeWork story is pretty wild when you read about it
New in @finandsoc.bsky.social: ‘The non-death of Adam Neumann’, unpacking the return of WeWork’s disgraced founder. It’s about Silicon Valley’s ambivalence to failure & fraud, and how venture capital rewards already-powerful, ruthless and deceptive serial founders. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
February 11, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Looks like it's going to be great - the Adam Neumann & WeWork story is pretty wild when you read about it
Reminds me of this story www.theatlantic.com/culture/2013... (just a human writing and communicating with himself)
The True Story of the Fake Meeting Between Dickens and Dostoevsky
In 1862, Fyodor Dostoevsky, then a writer of little renown traveling to western Europe for the first time, dropped by Charles Dickens' offices in London and engaged the English novelist in an inti...
www.theatlantic.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reminds me of this story www.theatlantic.com/culture/2013... (just a human writing and communicating with himself)
That's something special considering how many people have done exactly that (over generations)
February 11, 2026 at 3:11 PM
That's something special considering how many people have done exactly that (over generations)
"Could" always does a lot of work when it comes to explaining the benefits of #generativeAI
February 10, 2026 at 3:57 PM
"Could" always does a lot of work when it comes to explaining the benefits of #generativeAI
Reposted by Kean Birch
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education
Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...
link.springer.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:13 AM
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Kean Birch
Fabian Muniesa - 'Finance, technology, and fascism today' @ UC Berkeley 26/02/2026 besi.berkeley.edu/event/financ...
February 5, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Fabian Muniesa - 'Finance, technology, and fascism today' @ UC Berkeley 26/02/2026 besi.berkeley.edu/event/financ...
Extended Deadline day for Open Panels! Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
About the Conference
www.4sonline.org
February 9, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Extended Deadline day for Open Panels! Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Reposted by Kean Birch
February 6, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Kean Birch
DEADLINE EXTENSION! Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) has extended the deadline for conference Open Panel submissions until 9th February 2026. The conference is being held in Toronto, 7-10th Oct 2026.
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
February 3, 2026 at 2:26 PM
DEADLINE EXTENSION! Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) has extended the deadline for conference Open Panel submissions until 9th February 2026. The conference is being held in Toronto, 7-10th Oct 2026.
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Looking forward to reading this - subscription economy
I logged on today to post this after some hiatus and my gracious that Stancil guy truly is an economically illiterate asshole. Also, bump, look at my article.
new jawn from me out today in economy & society on the "subscription economy," part of my larger project on *the paywall society* www.researchgate.net/publication/...
February 6, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Looking forward to reading this - subscription economy
Reposted by Kean Birch
New in SER: Nils Peters shows soaring UK startup valuations in the 2010s were less about VC power & more about a struggle for ownership. Late‑stage funds pushed into early‑stage rounds, intensifying competition & a small elite captured outsized returns. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
Bringing ownership in: a conjunctural approach to venture capital valuations
Abstract. High startup valuations are commonly perceived as expressions of venture capitalists’ (VCs) power. This study complicates this view and argues th
doi.org
February 2, 2026 at 12:15 PM
New in SER: Nils Peters shows soaring UK startup valuations in the 2010s were less about VC power & more about a struggle for ownership. Late‑stage funds pushed into early‑stage rounds, intensifying competition & a small elite captured outsized returns. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
Worth reading this take on forced diffusion of #genAI
At Davos, the tech oligarchs seem to have given up on people organically adopting their technology, and are instead asking what government can do to “make diffusion occur.” open.substack.com/pub/theameri...
February 5, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Worth reading this take on forced diffusion of #genAI
Reposted by Kean Birch
Government used AI to summarize expert reports from its AI consult. I did the same by uploading them to Chat GPT/Perplexity AI to generate new summaries. I found the government consistently softened advice creating an illusion of consensus that isn’t really there.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/aico...
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/aico...
An Illusion of Consensus: What the Government Isn’t Saying About the Results of its AI Consultation - Michael Geist
The government quietly released a “what we heard” report this week discussing the response to its 30-day sprint AI consultation from last October. Described as the “largest public consultation in the ...
www.michaelgeist.ca
February 4, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Government used AI to summarize expert reports from its AI consult. I did the same by uploading them to Chat GPT/Perplexity AI to generate new summaries. I found the government consistently softened advice creating an illusion of consensus that isn’t really there.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/aico...
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/aico...
DEADLINE EXTENSION! Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) has extended the deadline for conference Open Panel submissions until 9th February 2026. The conference is being held in Toronto, 7-10th Oct 2026.
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
February 3, 2026 at 2:26 PM
DEADLINE EXTENSION! Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) has extended the deadline for conference Open Panel submissions until 9th February 2026. The conference is being held in Toronto, 7-10th Oct 2026.
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Conference Theme: TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures
4sonline.org/call_for_ope...
Reposted by Kean Birch
New commentary by @cellllla.bsky.social, @perhaxis.bsky.social and myself: "The tech worker movement and the rise of the tech oligarchy". www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The tech worker movement and the rise of the tech oligarchy
Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)
www.tandfonline.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:24 PM
New commentary by @cellllla.bsky.social, @perhaxis.bsky.social and myself: "The tech worker movement and the rise of the tech oligarchy". www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Kean Birch
Fabian Muniesa - 'Paranoid Finance' @ Sciences Po Paris (AxPo / CEE) 19.02.2026 www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
January 29, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Fabian Muniesa - 'Paranoid Finance' @ Sciences Po Paris (AxPo / CEE) 19.02.2026 www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
Reposted by Kean Birch
I'm looking forward to 4S and another visit to Toronto! The 4S meetings are definitely my favorite "big" conference (and they aren't even that big), with lots of variety in content and opportunities to meet new people.
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
About the Conference
www.4sonline.org
January 24, 2026 at 3:23 PM
I'm looking forward to 4S and another visit to Toronto! The 4S meetings are definitely my favorite "big" conference (and they aren't even that big), with lots of variety in content and opportunities to meet new people.
Reposted by Kean Birch
Ute Tellmann @ CSI 09.02.2026 : 'Financialization and Assetization as a Politics of Property' www.csi.minesparis.psl.eu/en/agenda-en...
January 23, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Ute Tellmann @ CSI 09.02.2026 : 'Financialization and Assetization as a Politics of Property' www.csi.minesparis.psl.eu/en/agenda-en...
Any chance it's going to be hybrid?
January 23, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Any chance it's going to be hybrid?
Reposted by Kean Birch
Now available for pre-order and we're open for book talks to students, workshops and conferences, organisations etc.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
January 21, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Now available for pre-order and we're open for book talks to students, workshops and conferences, organisations etc.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
An observation: #genAI doesn't have any #networkeffects, as far as I can tell, which might explain its general lack of radical impact (esp. as execs have been conditioned on building strategies of market power thro network effects)
January 22, 2026 at 1:53 PM
An observation: #genAI doesn't have any #networkeffects, as far as I can tell, which might explain its general lack of radical impact (esp. as execs have been conditioned on building strategies of market power thro network effects)