Introduction
Amazon is redefining the market as a nervous system, where it controls the central infrastructure, reducing other players to the role of peripheral cells. It is not merely a store, but a powerful feedback device that builds a new ontology of power through the accumulation of data and logistics. This article analyzes how the e-commerce giant shapes the rules of access and visibility, deconstructing the myth of platform neutrality. Readers will learn why traditional antitrust law fails and what prostheses of reason might restore market autonomy.
Lina Khan: The Structural Paradigm Replaces Pricing
Lina Khan’s revolution lies in shifting the focus from consumer prices to market architecture. Amazon utilizes a flywheel mechanism, where a wider selection attracts customers, who in turn attract more sellers, lowering costs and tightening the loop of dominance. Competition becomes a war of ecosystems, where profits from one segment (e.g., the cloud) subsidize losses in another. A growth over profit strategy allows the platform to endure unprofitability longer than its rivals until their collapse becomes inevitable.
Watering the Flowers: Relational Corruption and the Day 1 Doctrine
The Watering the Flowers technique is a form of relational lobbying that feeds politicians selected data, creating a cognitive loop of dependency. Inside the company, the Day 1 doctrine prevails—a state of permanent mobilization where stability is equated with death. The stack ranking system introduces social Darwinism, forcing employees to compete for image rather than merit. This organizational culture normalizes permanent overload, transforming humans into a constant energy reserve for the algorithm.
Amazon as a Quasi-Institution: A New Infrastructure of Power
Low prices are a consumer smokescreen, hiding data cannibalism. By analyzing seller strategies, Amazon copies their products, acting simultaneously as both referee and player. As a quasi-institution, the platform becomes an essential infrastructure, which forces the consideration of three regulatory scenarios: behavioral containment, surgical separation of functions, or recognition as critical infrastructure under state supervision. The conflict between the roles of referee and player is structural and requires a hard systemic separation.
Prostheses of Reason: Tools for Controlling Digital Hegemony
The EU vs. USA model reveals a civilizational difference: Europe protects labor from algorithmic management and dehumanization. To curb hegemony, prostheses of reason are needed: an institutional separation of roles, regulation of data status as a public good, and new antitrust tests examining the total transactional burden. Amazon poses a question: can we create institutions that restrain the predatory appetite of platforms before they consume the remnants of autonomy and innovation? Consumer convenience must not serve as a veil for systemic inequality.
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