You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy
Exhibit 003 — On the commodification of control and the illusion of ownership
10/9/20252 min read
There was a time when buying something meant owning it. Now it means renting the idea of it, one software lock at a time.
Volkswagen plans to sell horsepower as a subscription service. Pay monthly, and your car goes faster. Not because it’s been upgraded, but because you’ve paid to unlock what’s already under the hood.
Toyota is doing the same thing in its own way:
$15 a month to use Bluetooth from your own phone.
$15 a month to use the screen for navigation.
$8 a month to view your oil life or tire pressure remotely.
Or bundle it all together, as if “car ownership” has a premium plan.
You can buy the vehicle outright and still be locked out of its full abilities. The steering wheel is yours, but the system that controls it belongs to someone else.
The Death of Ownership
This is what venture capitalists call innovation.
The modern car isn’t a machine anymore. It’s a platform, an interface managed by software and billing cycles. It’s not about driving, it’s about data, usage, and permission.
Every part of modern life now follows this model:
Music you don’t own.
Movies that disappear when licensing changes.
Smart homes that stop working when the servers go down.
Vehicles that charge rent for their own horsepower.
Ownership has become a temporary illusion that can be recalled at anytime for any reason.
Anthropology of Dependency
Viewed anthropologically, this is how empires of convenience condition loyalty, not through force, but through design.
Consumers learn to confuse access with ownership. Functionality becomes currency. “Freedom” becomes a tiered plan.
You’re not a customer anymore, you’re a subscriber to your own possessions.
You’ll Own Nothing — And You’ll Adapt
This phrase started as a dystopian meme, but it’s quickly becoming a prophecy. The modern marketplace doesn’t just sell products, it sells permission.
From Spotify to Tesla, from AI tools to smart homes, the world is shifting from property to platform.
And we scroll through it all like it’s progress.
Maybe you will own nothing.
Maybe you will be happy.
Or maybe you’ll just be billed automatically.