With a background in international relations/political science, I was naturally drawn to Rana Dasgupta’s After Nations , and I’ve found it to be a really helpful way to make sense of our current global moment. In particular, his analysis provides a vital historical foundation for an argument recently made by Cory Doctorow on the CBC Ideas podcast . Doctorow contends that our widespread anxiety over future, all-powerful AI is somewhat misplaced because society is already dominated by artificial life forms known as limited liability companies, that engage in the exact rogue behaviors we fear (@ 46:28, Artificial Intelligence: The Ultimate Disruptor, CBC Ideas, Aired: April 21, 2026, https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16210039-artificial-intelligence-the-ultimate-disruptor ). He describes these corporations as "immortal colony organisms" that engage in "goal hacking," relentlessly pursuing a profit mandate to the detriment of society, entirely indepen...