An Instruction Guide to Power: A Child’s Machiavelli, Social Media and the Metaverse

Though Niccolò Machiavelli’s famous political treatise was posthumously published as The Prince, the text reveals the utter lack of divine right that those in power could assume. They had to fight and finagle for their position, manipulate and murder to retain it. They were all too human.

The fights over social media giants, news information outlets, and the metaverse make The Prince all too relevant these days. SuperRare artist Claudia Hart’s “A Child’s Machiavelli” is a series of NFTs based on 1995 paintings that became a book and a cult collectible in 1998, and republished in 2019 to acclaim. Then in 2021 came Machiavelli World, a social VR performance hub. This iterated twist unifies children’s book images from the early 20th century with the word and spirit of the 16th century political treatise, minted together for the cryptoverse. It is an instruction guide to power for the young. 

Though Niccolò Machiavelli’s famous political treatise was posthumously published as The Prince, the text reveals the utter lack of divine right that those in power could assume. They had to fight and finagle for their position, manipulate and murder to retain it. They were all too h

Children’s book literature was one of the first market specializations of the 1800s. Products, colors, and lifestyles were invented to commercialize the utopian ideal of childhood. Children’s clothing was color-coded by gender at the start of the 20^th century to increase sales by segmenting markets. Now social media is taking the same approach, fragmenting audiences in order to cultivate multiple platform usury. 

Social media was designed for the young too, but Facebook is now an old person’s misinformation market without even retro ‘cool’ value. Instagram is a Mad Men marketing platform. Snapchat reproduces the popularity of 19^th century picture calling cards. Twitter is an incessant telegram service. YouTube is a vaster cable network. Tiktok, a chain letter warp zone. As these companies start to shift into developing the metaverse, they bring their antiquated politics, ambitions, and imaginations with them. 

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The fights over social media giants, news information outlets, and the metaverse make The Prince all too relevant these days. SuperRare artist Claudia Hart’s “A Child’s Machiavelli” is a series of NFTs based on 1995 paintings that became a book and a cult collectible in 1998, and republished in 2019 to acclaim. Then in 2021 came Machiavelli World, a social VR performance hub. This iterated twist unifies children’s book images from the early 20th century with the word and spirit of the 16th century political treatise, minted together for the cryptoverse. It is an instruction guide to power for the young. 

Claudia Hart’s sly artworks reflect our current condition, with cruel but true advice from 500 years past. They remind us that the world isn’t more corrupt. It’s only more mediated. 

In 1890, Congress almost unanimously passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to ensure an open marketplace. The senator John Sherman put it succinctly: “If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.”

In 2021, the United States Surgeon General declared a Warning against Misinformation, specifically targeting social media because people depend on these sites for so much more than family pictures and cute cat videos. The mis/dis-information is a health risk, and a political one. Seven months before the January 6^th 2020 attack on the Capital, Zuckerberg personally declined to implement a series of content-neutral proposals that would have reduced misinformation. They would have had an impact on MSI (meaningful social engagement). Internationally, Facebook has spread content that enabled violence against ethnic minorities in countries like Ethiopia and Myanmar. In most cases, changes didn’t require deleting content but implementing simple algorithmic changes. But a loss of less than 1% MSI was considered too great a price to bear. For the company. Not for the people who interact on the platform socially.

Let’s not forget that, frequently, Machiavelli’s and our princes were teenagers when they arrived in power. Do we want our future imagined, designed, and minted by the anxieties and ardor of adolescent boys now too big for their britches?

Alice gets an elongated neck as she gets bigger and bigger in Wonderland, an image that Hart applies to a rare lesson for the little people. “Make Someone Big” is a reminder that if you help someone succeed, they will want to get rid of you so that it seems they did it all themselves. The Social Network (2010) told that story in 2 hours, but as we look to who’s vying for power today, who and what got them to their current position is worth taking time to consider. 

Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas wrote a dissenting opinion in United States v. Columbia Steel Co., 334 U.S. 495 (1948) when the court decided to let a steel A&M proceed: “The Curse of Bigness shows how size can become a menace–both industrial and social….Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men.” Known as one of the most liberal judges to ever sit on the court, his words are surprisingly apt for our own time.

A mother pig fixes the collar of her piglet in Hart’s “Make Them Dependent on You,” but beyond any lingering memories of maternal overbearing, Machiavelli’s advice is the problem of our day. When people depend on you, they are less likely to get rid of you. The question to ask ourselves is why we let ourselves remain dependent? A people’s movement helped to break up the trains, oil, steel, banks, even bathtub fixtures…Is it inconceivable to break up the web-based platforms? 

Each NFT title in Hart’s series points at an aspiration: “Getting Bigger,” “Family Name,” “Taking Over.” There’s a sense of humor around this untrammeled quest for power. Hart modernized the language in “A Child’s Machiavelli,” but its essential argument about our times remains Machiavelli’s uncopyrightable truth: “Never attempt to win by force that which can be won by deception.”  

Many of the founders and CEOs of these tech companies were barely out of adolescence when they rose to power, just like the princes that Machiavelli observed. So much of their market remains focused on youth, with the recent acknowledgement by Zuckerberg that his interest in the metaverse is largely about maintaining audience share. Hart’s animated works are a wry gesture about such moves, using 19^th century children’s book of verse drawings alongside 16^th century political advice to remind audiences that the more things change, the more they stay the same.