Monopoly’s event-horizon

The true capitalist singularity.

9 min readDec 5, 2022

A NASA rendering entitled ‘Neutron Stars Rip Each Other Apart to Form Black Hole,’ pictured as a Fibonacci spiral of glowing red lines on black background. Superimposed over this is an image of Monopoly’s ‘Rich Uncle Pennybags,’ clutching a Grim Reaper’s scythe rather than a cane, his face a skull. The lower half of his body has been stretched and is disappearing into the black hole at the center of the NASA image. He is limned with red and orange and sports a red/orange comet-tail. Image: NAS

When a superdense, concentrated mass forms a black hole, the laws of physics around it change, giving rise to an eldritch zone where the normal rules don’t apply. When corporations form a concentrated industry, the laws of economics likewise change.

Take copyright: when I was a baby writer, there were dozens of comparably sized New York…

Monopoly’s event-horizon

The true capitalist singularity.

Written by Cory Doctorow