We're largely there already; it's just not obvious because it's incredibly ingrained in our culture. We've been there. One aspect of brands selling people an 'i

We're largely there already; it's just not obvious because it's incredibly ingrained in our culture. We've been there. One aspect of brands selling people an 'identity' (think apple or more profoundly, rolls royce). That's the consumer culture everyone hears so much about. Companies have larger weight in American government than people do. Lobbyists and campaign contributions go a long way. Aaron Schwartz became dedicated to campaign finance reform for precisely this reason. Part of the problem (and part of the solution to that problem) is that large scale companies must always optimize for money. They can care about certain things more, but still must optimize for money. Sometimes this benefits the general public, but sometimes it works against them too. Decoupling industry from politics may be a good idea; we can give more weight to what is good for people than what is good for companies. Although politicians like Trump make me think that might not be ideal either :P.