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I think you're right in that the 'American system' is an evolving entity. The evolution has something to do with how corporations are a relatively recent invent

by jal278 13y ago

I think you're right in that the 'American system' is an evolving entity. The evolution has something to do with how corporations are a relatively recent invention: An entity that that money breathes life into; and that life is sustained by further optimizing money. It's strange. A corporation is made up of people and yet it has its own drive, becomes like an organism composed of people in the same way that a human is composed of cells and a human's motivations are an emergent phenomenon independent of individual cells. I'm reminded a bit of Kevin Kelly's 'what technology wants' that discusses how technology has a life of its own, but in the context of corporations. Both technology and corporations have some kind of abstract life that we as humans impart to them; they are products of our thought but do not necessarily always serve our best interests.

Zelphyr 13y ago
To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently sized corporation is indistinguishable from a government."
- readme 13y ago
  Except it is clearly distinguishable. I am not sure what Arthur C. Clarke was smoking when he allegedly said that. 1. Corporations cannot levy taxes on citizens. 2. Corporations are not democracies (whereas, most modern governments are). Only the board of directors has a vote. 3. Corporations often generate profits. Governments are not very good at this. 4. Corporations (in most cases) cannot use force against a private citizen (unless they are on the corporations property, for the US) 5. Corporations pay taxes. Governments collect taxes. ... I could name more differences, but I'm done. Most governmental entities are indeed "municipal corporations" but there is a serious dissonance between the typical for-profit corporation and government entity. The police, public works, or fire department, for example, are municipal corporations. However, these are not governments. They are just parts of the government.
  - Zelphyr 13y ago
    I meant from an efficiency standpoint. Remember all those stories we used to hear about people going to work for a government agency and sitting around for days and weeks, getting paid, waiting on some key aspect required to do their job? I have literally experienced that very thing in a large corporation.

by jal278 13y ago

Zelphyr 13y ago

To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently sized corporation is indistinguishable from a government."

readme 13y ago
Except it is clearly distinguishable. I am not sure what Arthur C. Clarke was smoking when he allegedly said that. 1. Corporations cannot levy taxes on citizens. 2. Corporations are not democracies (whereas, most modern governments are). Only the board of directors has a vote. 3. Corporations often generate profits. Governments are not very good at this. 4. Corporations (in most cases) cannot use force against a private citizen (unless they are on the corporations property, for the US) 5. Corporations pay taxes. Governments collect taxes. ... I could name more differences, but I'm done. Most governmental entities are indeed "municipal corporations" but there is a serious dissonance between the typical for-profit corporation and government entity. The police, public works, or fire department, for example, are municipal corporations. However, these are not governments. They are just parts of the government.
- Zelphyr 13y ago
  I meant from an efficiency standpoint. Remember all those stories we used to hear about people going to work for a government agency and sitting around for days and weeks, getting paid, waiting on some key aspect required to do their job? I have literally experienced that very thing in a large corporation.