4 ms·

You’re correct on point 1, but point 2 is overly pessimistic. The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone that companies on the whole are generat

You’re correct on point 1, but point 2 is overly pessimistic. The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone that companies on the whole are generating value and not just exploiting people. The economy is not a zero sum game. The truth is, all companies, no matter how cool their branding is, are just a collection of mostly average people. The larger the company, the more average the workforce will be. This is a statistical fact. Inside any large organization, most of your job (no matter how technical) will be coordinating among groups of people, not creating X deliverable by yourself. This inevitably results in the classic drama, tension, fights, camaraderie and occasional abuse you will find when you bring any group of humans together. The X% of abusive situations that arise when you bring human animals together does not equal proof of widespread exploitation among the worlds highest paid employees. Slavery this is not. It just means your experience in any big company will essentially be a probability game. At FAANG, you have a 95% chance of getting reasonably wealthy within 5 years, with a X% (lower) chance of abuse/toxic overwork and X% chance of dying in a traffic accident on your morning commute. The problem is nobody wants to acknowledge the potential downsides. If you aren’t okay with this, there is of course the startup and indie hacker route.

hinkley 6y ago
The fact that income inequality goes up every year says you're wrong about point 2.
- Noumenon72 6y ago
  That doesn't follow in a growing economy, even a very simple two-person one where person 1 picks bananas by hand and person 2 builds a faster banana picker every year. No exploitation there.
  - pram 6y ago
    Who is buying all the bananas?
    - Noumenon72 6y ago
      You don't even need trade in your model economy. Just one person prefers a higher banana income so they can do pranks with the banana peels, or whatever.
justatdotin 6y ago
> The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone stockholm
cambalache 6y ago
> The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone that companies on the whole are generating value and not just exploiting people. The economy is not a zero sum game. This does not make any sense. The economy in the colonial Americas grew exponentially PRECISELY due to the explotation of people.
- pembrook 6y ago
  The economy in the colonial Americas grew exponentially because thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions of new people were arriving every year and creating value. The shitty, exploitative things those humans also did back then were not responsible for the growth. Countries in the rest of the world were doing the same things back then but not growing as fast. Only 5% of the slaves taken from Africa were brought to North America. For a further example, the US experienced its greatest upward climb during the industrial revolution, after slavery was abolished. If exploitation was the only reason for the US’s success, then why would the US experience explosive growth after abolishing slavery?

hinkley 6y ago

The fact that income inequality goes up every year says you're wrong about point 2.

Noumenon72 6y ago
That doesn't follow in a growing economy, even a very simple two-person one where person 1 picks bananas by hand and person 2 builds a faster banana picker every year. No exploitation there.
- pram 6y ago
  Who is buying all the bananas?
  - Noumenon72 6y ago
    You don't even need trade in your model economy. Just one person prefers a higher banana income so they can do pranks with the banana peels, or whatever.

justatdotin 6y ago

> The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone stockholm

cambalache 6y ago

> The fact that the economy grows every year is proof alone that companies on the whole are generating value and not just exploiting people. The economy is not a zero sum game. This does not make any sense. The economy in the colonial Americas grew exponentially PRECISELY due to the explotation of people.

pembrook 6y ago
The economy in the colonial Americas grew exponentially because thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions of new people were arriving every year and creating value. The shitty, exploitative things those humans also did back then were not responsible for the growth. Countries in the rest of the world were doing the same things back then but not growing as fast. Only 5% of the slaves taken from Africa were brought to North America. For a further example, the US experienced its greatest upward climb during the industrial revolution, after slavery was abolished. If exploitation was the only reason for the US’s success, then why would the US experience explosive growth after abolishing slavery?