Humans evolved in a world where information was scarce and crucial for survival—if there was even a hint of a lion nearby, knowing about it could mean the difference between life and death. This drove us to develop an insatiable hunger for information.
For most of history, any information was a valuable commodity—so much so that people were willing to pay for it. But with the rise of the internet, this dynamic changed. In the early 2000s, free newspapers seemed revolutionary. Instead of consumers paying for news, advertisers began funding it, shifting the press from a paid service to a business model where the reader became the product.
This shift had profound consequences. News was no longer about spreading open and unbiased information—it became about selling influence to the highest bidder. Commercial interests took priority, shaping the information we received to serve advertisers, lobbyists, and corporations rather than the public. This bias now permeates our most critical institutions, from politics to healthcare. And in healthcare, where lives are at stake, the consequences can be especially harmful—which is exactly why we decided to start here.