In 1977 CIA ran Project Oracle. Larry Ellison worked on Project Oracle. When Congress refused funding CIA spun off Project Oracle into the now known corporation Oracle. Larry Ellison is the largest most significant shareholder at 41%. Large enough share to have complete control of the company.
This is the Drift Principle applied to media. When ownership concentrates, the incentives behind narrative production quietly change, and semantic fidelity erodes because coherence and legitimacy get optimized ahead of truth. The result, reality drift.
Brilliant takedown of the meritocracy illusion in media consolidation. The Marx quote about mental production hits diferently when you see $40B deployed to control narratives. That section on how barrier-to-entry becomes astronomically high not from lack of vision but lack of capital is crucial, kinda mirrors what happens in academia too where prestige often follows endowment size rather than intellectual rigor. The Ellul framing of 'systematic manipulation' as structural outcome rather than conspiracy feels especially important to understand.
In 1977 CIA ran Project Oracle. Larry Ellison worked on Project Oracle. When Congress refused funding CIA spun off Project Oracle into the now known corporation Oracle. Larry Ellison is the largest most significant shareholder at 41%. Large enough share to have complete control of the company.
This is the Drift Principle applied to media. When ownership concentrates, the incentives behind narrative production quietly change, and semantic fidelity erodes because coherence and legitimacy get optimized ahead of truth. The result, reality drift.
Brilliant takedown of the meritocracy illusion in media consolidation. The Marx quote about mental production hits diferently when you see $40B deployed to control narratives. That section on how barrier-to-entry becomes astronomically high not from lack of vision but lack of capital is crucial, kinda mirrors what happens in academia too where prestige often follows endowment size rather than intellectual rigor. The Ellul framing of 'systematic manipulation' as structural outcome rather than conspiracy feels especially important to understand.