7 ms·

To 'Reclaim Future-Making', Amazon Workers Published Collection of SciFi Stories

91 points by m463 2y ago

DanAtC 2y ago
The year is 2058, I drive up to my home after working at the amazon warehouse for 14 hours, it's my 6th day of work, I finally get my day off. I drive home in my amazon basics SUV listening to "NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL AMAZON BASICS 54". After filling up my car at the amazon basic recharging station I pull into my amazon basics car shed and open my front door after verifying my prime membership to my amazon basics branded Ring doorbell. I get my amazon basics hungry man TV meal and sit down to watch some flicks on my amazon basics fire TV. Stranger Things finally entered it's 7th season, and I'm so excited I pissed my amazon basics boxer briefs on the way home. The show leaves me foaming in the mouth it was so good, I came into my amazon basics fleshlight 4 times. I go to clean it out in my complete amazon basics full bath, I'm all out of amazon basics bar soap, fuck. I walk into what used to be my home office and go to the nearest wall of amazon dash buttons. I press the amazon basics dash button and receive a notification on my amazon basics fire tablet that my amazon basics checking account has overdrawn. My account gets charged a $50 overdraft fee and I hear a knock on my door. The amazon basics SWAT came to my house, beat me to the ground with their amazon basics batons, and cuffed me with amazon basics handcuffs. They throw me into the back of an amazon basics crown vic for the next 30 minutes. The windows are tinted with amazon basics 100% tint, can't see shit outside. The car comes to a stop and the door opens. I've been brought to the amazon basics prison for delinquents. I'm now forced to work 16 hours a day making amazon basics clothes hangers for the next 35 years to pay off my amazon basics overdraft fees. I'm amazon basically fucked.
- apfsx 2y ago
  Jeff Bezo’s foaming at the mouth right now because of what you just wrote.
  - rsynnott 2y ago
    At the concept that there would be 'days off' in this future utopia? (Also I'm fairly sure that the Amazon Dash is an un-product, so that's thoughtcrime for a start.)
    - ryandrake 2y ago
      Haha, yea, the only thing unbelievable about that otherwise great copypasta is that workers will have "days off" in 2058.
- deadbabe 2y ago
  Amazon prime citizens look down their noses from a high balcony at this Amazon basic worker.
- bryanrasmussen 2y ago
  I believe you mean the year was 64 A.A (Anno Amazon)
- DonHopkins 2y ago
  NO NO NO NO NO! NOT the Amazon Basics Wed Wun! Don't EVER push the Amazon Basics Wed Wun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_IE_0-Xlis&t=181s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_IE_0-Xlis&t=181s
- flir 2y ago
  In the grim dark future there is only ~~war~~ the quarterly reports of the last two corporations (BerkshireComcastDisneyExxonMobil and AlphabetAmazonAppleAramco).
- LocalH 2y ago
  Sixteen tons
firefoxd 2y ago
E.M. Forster published his a bit too early in 1909. Check out "The Machine Stops" short story. Much too eerie.
protocolture 2y ago
Kinda mad at myself for clicking through the book link and expecting an Amazon POD option. I bought it anyway, mostly out of guilt. But I have had POD's like this one for half the price via amazon when shipping is accounted for.
righthand 2y ago
I don't get it? Is this a unionization effort?
blobbers 2y ago
The 3rd paragraph is wrong. Bezos didn’t fund his space adventure with profits. He funded it with equity (or probably debt against his equity). His equity is valued at 34 times the Amazon profits annualized. The workers did make Amazon valuable but it wasn’t profits.
- bawolff 2y ago
  That's being pretty pedantic. Its not even technically correct as the original sentence was "...generate profit so great their boss was able to finance his own private space program." They didn't say he funded his space project with amazon profits, they are saying that as a result of the profits bezos was able to fund a space program. Which is undoubtedly true as the amazon equity wouldn't be worth much if amazon wasn't making any money .
  - drysine 2y ago
    So "...generate profit so great their boss was able to finance his own private space program" is only misleading while technically correct.
    - rsynnott 2y ago
      Eh, not really. This is just, in practice, how profits are extracted from this sort of company (and most sorts of companies; for various reasons, the phenomenon of a company paying out most of its profit in dividends is dying out) at the moment.
- pyrale 2y ago
  These days, the formal difference between the two is really hard to grasp, and mostly depends on which way accountants find they’ll pay less taxes. There is no point nitpicking someone because they used one term instead of the other: Bezos’ fortune is derived from Amazon’s activity, and the rest of us has no interest in changing our vocabulary to abide by some obscure tax code rule.
  - 2y ago
worldsayshi 2y ago
I fear that so much of our story telling is driven by our worst fears. We end up not being able to hold a vision in our head of a good future because of all those fears. Having fears in the front of your mind makes sense for an animal that can primarily shape their future by avoiding danger. But humans are very much in power of our own destiny. So if all we can imagine is dystopia that's what we get. That's why we need not only fiction that shows effective resistance to dystopian tendencies, which is important, but (realistic) fiction that depicts stories where we are clearly on our way from something bad towards something much better. Such stories are important because they give us hope and we dearly need hope in those dark hours, to encourage us to act. And to make it more clear to everyone involved what 'act' should mean. I find those types of stories kind of rare. Suggestions are appreciated. C Doctorow and U Le Guin comes to mind.
- e40 2y ago
  I wonder if we, as a species, are capable of looking at the positive. Since the 1960’s we’ve been in a doom cycle.
  - worldsayshi 2y ago
    I think just writing and reading such stories is a good start. I can vouch for that reading such stories is enjoyable and I want to do more of it. Which to me is a small proof that it is possible.
  - bawolff 2y ago
    I suspect we have always been a bit doomerish. Just look how much religion talks about the end of the world.
- lokimedes 2y ago
  My childhood was spent reading Clarke, Asimov and the likes. Not for the gloom of runaway AIs or societal collapse, but from the glimmers of technology and advancement that was hidden in their stories.
- throwaway13337 2y ago

91 points by m463 2y ago

The year is 2058, I drive up to my home after working at the amazon warehouse for 14 hours, it's my 6th day of work, I finally get my day off. I drive home in my amazon basics SUV listening to "NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL AMAZON BASICS 54". After filling up my car at the amazon basic recharging station I pull into my amazon basics car shed and open my front door after verifying my prime membership to my amazon basics branded Ring doorbell. I get my amazon basics hungry man TV meal and sit down to watch some flicks on my amazon basics fire TV. Stranger Things finally entered it's 7th season, and I'm so excited I pissed my amazon basics boxer briefs on the way home. The show leaves me foaming in the mouth it was so good, I came into my amazon basics fleshlight 4 times. I go to clean it out in my complete amazon basics full bath, I'm all out of amazon basics bar soap, fuck. I walk into what used to be my home office and go to the nearest wall of amazon dash buttons. I press the amazon basics dash button and receive a notification on my amazon basics fire tablet that my amazon basics checking account has overdrawn. My account gets charged a $50 overdraft fee and I hear a knock on my door. The amazon basics SWAT came to my house, beat me to the ground with their amazon basics batons, and cuffed me with amazon basics handcuffs. They throw me into the back of an amazon basics crown vic for the next 30 minutes. The windows are tinted with amazon basics 100% tint, can't see shit outside. The car comes to a stop and the door opens. I've been brought to the amazon basics prison for delinquents. I'm now forced to work 16 hours a day making amazon basics clothes hangers for the next 35 years to pay off my amazon basics overdraft fees. I'm amazon basically fucked.

apfsx 2y ago
Jeff Bezo’s foaming at the mouth right now because of what you just wrote.
- rsynnott 2y ago
  At the concept that there would be 'days off' in this future utopia? (Also I'm fairly sure that the Amazon Dash is an un-product, so that's thoughtcrime for a start.)
  - ryandrake 2y ago
    Haha, yea, the only thing unbelievable about that otherwise great copypasta is that workers will have "days off" in 2058.
deadbabe 2y ago
Amazon prime citizens look down their noses from a high balcony at this Amazon basic worker.
bryanrasmussen 2y ago
I believe you mean the year was 64 A.A (Anno Amazon)
DonHopkins 2y ago
NO NO NO NO NO! NOT the Amazon Basics Wed Wun! Don't EVER push the Amazon Basics Wed Wun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_IE_0-Xlis&t=181s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_IE_0-Xlis&t=181s
flir 2y ago
In the grim dark future there is only ~~war~~ the quarterly reports of the last two corporations (BerkshireComcastDisneyExxonMobil and AlphabetAmazonAppleAramco).
LocalH 2y ago
Sixteen tons

firefoxd 2y ago

E.M. Forster published his a bit too early in 1909. Check out "The Machine Stops" short story. Much too eerie.

protocolture 2y ago

Kinda mad at myself for clicking through the book link and expecting an Amazon POD option. I bought it anyway, mostly out of guilt. But I have had POD's like this one for half the price via amazon when shipping is accounted for.

righthand 2y ago

I don't get it? Is this a unionization effort?

blobbers 2y ago

The 3rd paragraph is wrong. Bezos didn’t fund his space adventure with profits. He funded it with equity (or probably debt against his equity). His equity is valued at 34 times the Amazon profits annualized. The workers did make Amazon valuable but it wasn’t profits.

bawolff 2y ago
That's being pretty pedantic. Its not even technically correct as the original sentence was "...generate profit so great their boss was able to finance his own private space program." They didn't say he funded his space project with amazon profits, they are saying that as a result of the profits bezos was able to fund a space program. Which is undoubtedly true as the amazon equity wouldn't be worth much if amazon wasn't making any money .
- drysine 2y ago
  So "...generate profit so great their boss was able to finance his own private space program" is only misleading while technically correct.
  - rsynnott 2y ago
    Eh, not really. This is just, in practice, how profits are extracted from this sort of company (and most sorts of companies; for various reasons, the phenomenon of a company paying out most of its profit in dividends is dying out) at the moment.
pyrale 2y ago
These days, the formal difference between the two is really hard to grasp, and mostly depends on which way accountants find they’ll pay less taxes. There is no point nitpicking someone because they used one term instead of the other: Bezos’ fortune is derived from Amazon’s activity, and the rest of us has no interest in changing our vocabulary to abide by some obscure tax code rule.
- 2y ago

worldsayshi 2y ago

I fear that so much of our story telling is driven by our worst fears. We end up not being able to hold a vision in our head of a good future because of all those fears. Having fears in the front of your mind makes sense for an animal that can primarily shape their future by avoiding danger. But humans are very much in power of our own destiny. So if all we can imagine is dystopia that's what we get. That's why we need not only fiction that shows effective resistance to dystopian tendencies, which is important, but (realistic) fiction that depicts stories where we are clearly on our way from something bad towards something much better. Such stories are important because they give us hope and we dearly need hope in those dark hours, to encourage us to act. And to make it more clear to everyone involved what 'act' should mean. I find those types of stories kind of rare. Suggestions are appreciated. C Doctorow and U Le Guin comes to mind.

e40 2y ago
I wonder if we, as a species, are capable of looking at the positive. Since the 1960’s we’ve been in a doom cycle.
- worldsayshi 2y ago
  I think just writing and reading such stories is a good start. I can vouch for that reading such stories is enjoyable and I want to do more of it. Which to me is a small proof that it is possible.
- bawolff 2y ago
  I suspect we have always been a bit doomerish. Just look how much religion talks about the end of the world.
lokimedes 2y ago
My childhood was spent reading Clarke, Asimov and the likes. Not for the gloom of runaway AIs or societal collapse, but from the glimmers of technology and advancement that was hidden in their stories.
throwaway13337 2y ago