Published in Digital Democracy from Below, my essay “The Four Horsemen of Techno-Corporate Rule” recasts the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to examine the seeming inevitability of corporate technological power. It also inspired a painting, Four Horsemen, exhibited at the One Good Work residency.
I've always wanted to be a Renaissance person, so it was particularly delightful to have the Digital Democracy from Below public convening inspire an essay, and then have that essay inspire a painting.
At the convening, I was struck by how difficult it felt to focus on small, local interventions with the growing threat of techno-corporate rule looming overhead. In response, I turned to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, recasting them as the Four Horsemen of Techno-Corporate Rule to name the recurring ways corporate power over technology comes to look like fate rather than a choice.
The essay introduces four horsemen:
- The Horse of Inevitable Convenience (White) insists that technological change is inevitable, everyone wants it, and convenience outweighs democratic deliberation. It presents political choices as settled before we've had a chance to debate them.
- The Horse of Extraction and Punishment (Red) represents surveillance, data extraction, algorithmic profiling, and automated punishment. From credit scores to biometric identification and AI-assisted military targeting, it sorts, segments, and controls.
- The Horse of Shadow Rule (Black) governs through opaque algorithms, corporate secrecy, and automated decision-making, making it harder to understand, challenge, or hold those in power accountable.
- The Horse of Atrophy and Decay (Pale) marks the erosion of democracy as public functions shift to technology corporations, institutions lose capacity, and our relationships and political participation become mediated by private platforms.
Like their apocalyptic predecessors, these horsemen warn of a slow collapse. But the essay rejects the idea that this outcome is inevitable. Each horseman comes with ways to recognize, name, and resist the forces it represents, from demanding transparency and alternatives to rebuilding democratic control through collective action.
I developed and workshopped Four Horsemen during One Good Work, a public art residency organized by Prospect Heights Art Club in Brooklyn. The residency brought artists together through research, experimentation, and iteration, culminating in a public exhibition where I presented the painting. You can also catch a glimpse of it in the background of this Instagram post.
The essay is open access and available through the University of Virginia's Libra Open repository.
Read the essay online or download the PDF below.