B runs a digital company called “A”. A is in the process of acquiring a monopoly on global sales. It is, in a way, a total company. Alongside its sales activity, A is reviving the fantasies of Nasa in the 1970s: building colonies and hangars in space. And B sees himself as the pilot of the Enterprise, the spaceship from the Star Trek series.

Why is the world's largest digital multinational, with a stranglehold on so many products, secretly plotting a huge escape into space? A is creating a logistical infrastructure of almost supernatural efficiency, radically transforming our relationship with the world.

In reality, it's not about B as an individual, nor about a company whose name is the first letter of the alphabet. Nor Jeff Bezos, nor Amazon. B is no one in particular. A is a symptom.

Planet B  is an essay that cross-references and invents metaphors in order to apprehend a growing monster. It tells the story of “Planet B”, the hypermarket-world engendered by the low resolution and speed of information propagation applied to everything. Like an outlet, Gwenola Wagon probes with seriousness and humor a logic whose delirious scale eludes us.

This book is published in the collection essays, 369 edition co-edited by Jérôme Delormas and Clémence Seurat. Graphic design : Nuno da Luz