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Why stop there? Mega-corps will eventually supersede governments. When Amazon, Google, and Apple all have 10.000.000 employees, then "Waymo v. Uber" isn't just

by hbosch 9y ago

Why stop there? Mega-corps will eventually supersede governments. When Amazon, Google, and Apple all have 10.000.000 employees, then "Waymo v. Uber" isn't just law it's a wartime skirmish! Employment will be more valuable than citizenship. Would make a nice dystopia.

throwanem 9y ago
Wouldn't it just! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Government https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Government (I considered linking to its Amazon listing, but that seemed like it would've been a little too on the nose.)
- splintercell 9y ago
  I love that book, it made me realize that it's possible to build a capitalist society without government (which is technically completely against the intention of the author who wanted it to be a 1984 style commentary on Capitalism).
  - throwanem 9y ago
    It's possible to build a government society without capitalism, too. One wonders whether there's a point to be drawn, not about one system versus the other, but about the potential for mishap inherent in putting too much weight on any one thing.
  - kesselvon 9y ago
    I mean sure, but I don't know why you'd want to.
cholantesh 9y ago
It was the exact plot of the movie Robocop. There was also a bit of Aliens in the mix.
amelius 9y ago
Interesting, but what would happen if companies start to print their own money?
- csours 9y ago
  If? Video games currently have in-game currency, for which they employ real economists. MANY companies allow you to fund a wallet of one kind or another for internal transactions. It's also happened in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store
- splintercell 9y ago
  Then they'd be competing with other company's money and govt's money. Like Linden dollars was already doing in 2007 (pre-bitcoin era) and IRS had to step in to make the tax obligations clear on the Second Life economy. Since bitcoin, if you look at all the ICOs on the Ethereum platform then technically all these companies ARE issuing their currency (i.e. tokens).
strictnein 9y ago
So Syndicate? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game)
- Cpoll 9y ago
  A year before that was Snow Crash, which described the dominance of corporate enclaves in a compelling fashion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash Of course, the earlier Neuromancer had many of the same themes. Both are seminal works in the cyberpunk genre.
  - strictnein 9y ago
    Yeah, Snow Crash is great. Wouldn't surprise me if the Syndicate guys were fans of the book.
smnrchrds 9y ago
That is basically the premise of Syfy channel's TV show, Incorporated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series)

by hbosch 9y ago

throwanem 9y ago

Wouldn't it just! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Government https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Government (I considered linking to its Amazon listing, but that seemed like it would've been a little too on the nose.)

splintercell 9y ago
I love that book, it made me realize that it's possible to build a capitalist society without government (which is technically completely against the intention of the author who wanted it to be a 1984 style commentary on Capitalism).
- throwanem 9y ago
  It's possible to build a government society without capitalism, too. One wonders whether there's a point to be drawn, not about one system versus the other, but about the potential for mishap inherent in putting too much weight on any one thing.
- kesselvon 9y ago
  I mean sure, but I don't know why you'd want to.

cholantesh 9y ago

It was the exact plot of the movie Robocop. There was also a bit of Aliens in the mix.

amelius 9y ago

Interesting, but what would happen if companies start to print their own money?

csours 9y ago
If? Video games currently have in-game currency, for which they employ real economists. MANY companies allow you to fund a wallet of one kind or another for internal transactions. It's also happened in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store
splintercell 9y ago
Then they'd be competing with other company's money and govt's money. Like Linden dollars was already doing in 2007 (pre-bitcoin era) and IRS had to step in to make the tax obligations clear on the Second Life economy. Since bitcoin, if you look at all the ICOs on the Ethereum platform then technically all these companies ARE issuing their currency (i.e. tokens).

strictnein 9y ago

So Syndicate? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(video_game)

Cpoll 9y ago
A year before that was Snow Crash, which described the dominance of corporate enclaves in a compelling fashion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash Of course, the earlier Neuromancer had many of the same themes. Both are seminal works in the cyberpunk genre.
- strictnein 9y ago
  Yeah, Snow Crash is great. Wouldn't surprise me if the Syndicate guys were fans of the book.

smnrchrds 9y ago

That is basically the premise of Syfy channel's TV show, Incorporated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series)