Bill Gates Archives - Public Seminar

Democracy

Naked Oligarchy

How billionaires captured power and hollowed out democracy

June 19, 2025 • by Salvador Santino Regilme

The choice is stark: rule by the many, or rule by the billionaires who already act as if they own the world. Across the globe, extreme wealth has overpowered democracy. The world’s billionaires no longer merely influence politics; they dominate it. Behind the rhetoric of innovation and market efficiency lies a ...

How to Keep Your Soul Intact

A poetry series documents ten weeks under COVID-19

August 25, 2020 • by Val Vinokur

Over ten weeks spanning June, July, and August 2020, Val Vinokur composed a cycle of poems documenting life during the COVID-19 pandemic and published weekly at Public Seminar. Titled "The Big Cats,” the resulting series serves as a poetic diary, a kind of "Waste Land” with hyperlinks, responding to the ...