There is a recurring mechanism by which industries learn to control the epistemic conditions of their own regulation in American democratic politics. This mechanism has evolved across at least four major cases with each iteration learning from its predecessors and becoming more sophisticated.
The tech case represents a qualitative break from the previous three. In every prior case, the underlying reality existed independently of the industry: lead accumulated in bodies, tumors appeared in lungs, CO₂ built up in the atmosphere. Outside scientists could eventually discover the truth because the object of study was accessible.
With AI and proprietary technology systems, the object of study itself is locked inside corporate infrastructure. Trade secret law and IP protections—legal structures built into the American system— actively prevent the kind of independent knowledge production that eventually broke every previous case.
The Four-Case Genealogy
The Kehoe Rule (1925): Burden of proof placed on opponents to prove harm. Industry becomes the only funded researcher, preventing consensus from forming.
What broke it: Clair Patterson's accidental discovery via ice core analysis—an object of study the industry couldn't control.
TIRC (1954): Create parallel knowledge institutions to contest existing science. Make uncertainty itself the product.
What broke it: Internal documents from litigation discovery. Distributed doubt more resilient than monopoly but eventually overwhelmed.
API Strategy Memos (1998): Concede the science, shift debate to economic terrain. Render science politically inert.
What broke (is breaking) it: Clean energy economics. The strategy is hostage to the terrain it chose—when renewables become cheaper, the frame works against fossil fuels.
Trade Secret Law & Enclosure: Control the existence of knowledge itself. Proprietary systems make independent study structurally impossible.
What will break it: TBD. This is the frontier. Collectively produced data enclosed through proprietary processing—primitive accumulation of knowledge.
Research Tools
Quick Actions
This platform is a research tool for analyzing how corporate epistemic strategies evolve across industries. It is designed to support academic research, particularly for the book project Manufacturing Rationality. All content is publicly accessible for research purposes.