Seeker: Extractive Social/Economic Systems vs. Generative Social/Economic Systems

History and political economy of AI alongside models of emergence. Use these to tell the difference between systems that concentrate power and those that distribute agency.

  • The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence

    • Why it matters: A history of AI as a story of labor, capital, and control - sharp context for avoiding old extraction patterns in new clothes.

    • Skill level: Intermediate - Advanced

    • Resource type: Reading (Book)

    • Published/updated: 2023

  • Artificial Power: 2025 Landscape Report

    • Why it matters: A snapshot of who holds leverage across compute, data, and deployment - read it to see the power map beneath the hype.

    • Skill level: Intermediate - Advanced

    • Resource type: Report

    • Published/updated: 2025

  • Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) Resources

    • Why it matters: Model societies bottom-up to explore how incentives produce emergent behavior - from fragility to resilience.

    • Skill level: Intermediate

    • Resource type: Tooling - Modeling

    • Published/updated: Ongoing


Everything on Shared Sapience is free and open to all. However, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to keep these resources and guides up to date and useful for everyone.

If enough of my amazing readers could help with just a few dollars a month, I could dedicate myself full-time to helping Seekers, Builders, and Protectors collaborate better with AI and work toward a better future.

Even if you can’t support financially, becoming a free subscriber is a huge help in advancing the mission of Shared Sapience.

If you’d like to help by becoming a free or paid subscriber, simply use the Subscribe/Upgrade button below, or send a one-time quick tip with Buy me a Coffee by clicking here. I’m deeply grateful for any support you can provide - thank you!

This post is for paid subscribers