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> But pretending that the entire outside world is a dark mass of malevolent forces arrayed against you.. well, it may be psychically necessary in some Freudian,

> But pretending that the entire outside world is a dark mass of malevolent forces arrayed against you.. well, it may be psychically necessary in some Freudian, Jungian sentence, to prevent ego death or whatever, but in the long run it's neither (a) true (obviously), and (b) nor is it going to do your mind and mindset any good. Maybe you can post this in the endless Russia threads posted here, which seem to have crowded out the endless China threads. I guess what you're saying is that apprehension about the motives of of corporate executives is so irrational, it's akin to a psychological problem.

neonsunset 4y ago
It is low of you to conflate the two. While both companies and russia pursue goals in somewhat pragmatic manner, the former aims to maximize profit while the latter aims to execute an entire nation and take their resources with calculated brutality (most war crimes committed were under direct orders).
samhw 4y ago
> I guess what you're saying is that apprehension about the motives of of corporate executives is so irrational, it's akin to a psychological problem. No, that wasn't what I was saying there, but coincidentally, yes, I would agree with that statement. For one, 'corporate' is a phenomenally lazy word used to invoke some mental image of besuited sociopathy, from a million children's movies and internet debates. In the real world, 'corporate executives' - human beings, mothers and fathers, working in management careers at (large) companies - are humans doing jobs, like any other humans doing jobs. I've been involved (as an engineer) in C-level meetings with people like that, as well as worked alongside them in the same teams, and my experience - thoroughly unsurprisingly given what I said above - is that they are pretty ordinary human beings on the whole. I'm sure there are differences between companies in terms of their cultures or values, but that's company-specific and not discipline-specific or seniority-specific. I get that your experience is that these are people who mete out decisions from on high, which affect you in sometimes-negative and always-unforeseen ways, and that makes you feel like a mediaeval peasant might have felt towards his feudal liege. And maybe it's helpful, from a cathartic standpoint, like I said above, to picture them as evil baddies from kids' movies. But no, the reality is more banal. (Incidentally, I think those who worship company CEOs - and suchlike - are equally stupid, from the Elon bros to the HackerNews types who recite stories about startup founders as though they were superheroes. These people underestimate the role of chance and – in a way, very similarly to you – overattribute the differences between execs/founders vs regular workers to a proportionate difference in their inner essence [in their case, they think intelligence & industry; in your case, you think amorality]. Both are fantasies.)

neonsunset 4y ago

It is low of you to conflate the two. While both companies and russia pursue goals in somewhat pragmatic manner, the former aims to maximize profit while the latter aims to execute an entire nation and take their resources with calculated brutality (most war crimes committed were under direct orders).

samhw 4y ago

> I guess what you're saying is that apprehension about the motives of of corporate executives is so irrational, it's akin to a psychological problem. No, that wasn't what I was saying there, but coincidentally, yes, I would agree with that statement. For one, 'corporate' is a phenomenally lazy word used to invoke some mental image of besuited sociopathy, from a million children's movies and internet debates. In the real world, 'corporate executives' - human beings, mothers and fathers, working in management careers at (large) companies - are humans doing jobs, like any other humans doing jobs. I've been involved (as an engineer) in C-level meetings with people like that, as well as worked alongside them in the same teams, and my experience - thoroughly unsurprisingly given what I said above - is that they are pretty ordinary human beings on the whole. I'm sure there are differences between companies in terms of their cultures or values, but that's company-specific and not discipline-specific or seniority-specific. I get that your experience is that these are people who mete out decisions from on high, which affect you in sometimes-negative and always-unforeseen ways, and that makes you feel like a mediaeval peasant might have felt towards his feudal liege. And maybe it's helpful, from a cathartic standpoint, like I said above, to picture them as evil baddies from kids' movies. But no, the reality is more banal. (Incidentally, I think those who worship company CEOs - and suchlike - are equally stupid, from the Elon bros to the HackerNews types who recite stories about startup founders as though they were superheroes. These people underestimate the role of chance and – in a way, very similarly to you – overattribute the differences between execs/founders vs regular workers to a proportionate difference in their inner essence [in their case, they think intelligence & industry; in your case, you think amorality]. Both are fantasies.)