The Age of Extraction: In Conversation with Tim Wu and Bradley Tusk
Commonweal Ventures and Tusk Venture Partners are thrilled to welcome Tim Wu to P&T Knitwear for a discussion on his latest book, The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity, a timely exploration of platform power and the fight for economic balance in the digital age.
As Mayor-elect Mamdani prepares to take office with a transition team co-chaired by former FTC Chair Lina Khan (who called this book "remarkably astute and timely"), the ideas Wu presents in The Age of Extraction seem certain to influence New York's future policy agenda.
Tim will be joined in conversation by Bradley Tusk, venture capitalist, political strategist, and founder of P&T Knitwear, and the discussion will be moderated by Nate Loewentheil, managing partner of Commonweal Ventures and former Obama White House advisor. The discussion will be followed by audience Q&A.
Schedule:
10:00 AM - Doors open, networking
10:30 AM - Moderated conversation and audience Q&A
11:30 AM - Networking
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hailed as the “architect” of the Biden administration’s competition and antitrust policies, Tim Wu writes and teaches about private power and related topics. First known for coining the term “net neutrality” in 2002, in recent years Wu has been a leader in the revitalization of American antitrust and has taken a particular focus on the growing power of the big tech platforms. In 2021, he was appointed to serve in the White House as special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy.
A professor at Columbia Law School since 2006, Wu has also held posts in public service. He was enforcement counsel in the New York Attorney General’s Office, worked on competition policy for the National Economic Council during the Barack Obama administration, and worked in antitrust enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission. In 2014, Wu was a Democratic primary candidate for lieutenant governor of New York.
In his most recent book, The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity (2025), he argues that tech platforms manipulate attention, extract wealth, and deepen inequality, while explaining how we can reclaim control and create a balanced economy that works for everyone. His previous books include The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age (2018), The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads (2016), The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (2010), and Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World (2006), which he co-authored with Jack Goldsmith.
Wu was a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and also has written for Slate, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. He once explained the concept of net neutrality to late-night host Stephen Colbert while he rode a rollercoaster. He has been named one of America’s 100 most influential lawyers by the National Law Journal; has made Politico’s list of 50 most influential figures in American politics (more than once); and has been included in the Scientific American 50 of policy leadership.
Wu is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as a law clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
ABOUT BRADLEY TUSK
Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist, political strategist, philanthropist and writer. He is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Tusk Venture Partners, the world’s first venture capital fund that invests solely in early stage startups in highly regulated industries, and the founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies. He recently launched Tusk Ventures, an equity-for-service firm offering world-class regulatory, communications, and strategic expertise to help startups and growing businesses to navigate regulation, expand into new markets, and reduce regulatory and political risk.
Previously, Bradley served as campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg's 2009 mayoral race, as Deputy Governor of Illinois, and as Uber's first political advisor. He is the author of The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups From Death by Politics and Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy, writes a column for Daily News, hosts the podcast Firewall about the intersection of tech and politics, and is the co-founder of the Gotham Book Prize. Bradley owns a bookstore, podcast studio, event space and cafe called P&T Knitwear on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Nate Loewentheil is the Founder and Managing Partner of Commonweal Ventures. He is an early-stage investor in companies like Palantir, Robinhood, and Roivant. He is a former Forbes 30 under 30 and Aspen Ideas Fellow and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fast Company, among many other outlets.
He served in the Obama White House as a Special Assistant to the President at the National Economic Council, where he advised President Obama on emerging technology. Nate holds a BA from Yale College and a JD from Yale Law School.