RE the illusion of individual empowerment- I was just thinking about decentralized blockchains beating out the IBM Blockchain (yest that's a trademark), Amazon Managed Blockchain and the like.

RE permissions as a luxury, I meant that there is an increased tendency for the decisions that Amazon, Google and Facebook make that impact life and death. Each of those are permission-based systems, rather than validated blockchains.

Essentially, a blockchain is dependent upon the hardware and know-how of a user, while influencing Facebook requires being employed by the company since Zuck owns the majority of voting rights.