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If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. It's ridiculous.

If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. It's ridiculous. Big organizations have problems, but to pronounce them as inherently evil ignores all the good they do. Maybe you have a different idea of good in mind, in which case we'll probably never agree on anything. When people organize they can create amazing things, and that's what corporations are, an organization of people: employees, customers, and investors. And they do amazing things. Go to a country that doesn't do so well at creating functioning organizations and see the difference.

r00fus 13y ago
Let's not dilute the point. The article states that the financial industry* is the "hostile AI" not all corporations (in fact, it clearly states that even the hated "energy" corporations actually provide a product - even if that ). Having recently re-read Dan Simmons' Hyperion series (sci-fi humans vs. AI masterpiece), I could almost see the analogy perfectly - finance is key to almost every part of our individual life, business and even political machinations. And in each, the big finance outfits are impervious, indifferent and have their own goals outside of their stated purpose. * I'd expand slightly to include all of FIRE - finance, real-estate and insurance
dropit_sphere 13y ago
They're not evil, they're not good. They just are. Blind worship and blind fear are errors of the same category: mistaking their nature.
ThomPete 13y ago
I am not disagreeing fundamentally but you can't use your success as an indicator of whether something is good or bad. The corporation that feed you might do other things other places to other people. As an example the De Beers in the diamond industry.
harrystone 13y ago
It's just much easier to think of things as being black and white. It really doesn't matter if it's true, it's just comforting.
yaketysax 13y ago
"If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house" If crime is so evil why has its pay fed my family, paid for my house
Terr_ 13y ago
> If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. "If the rancher is so evil, why does he give me bales of hay to chew on and allowed me to become the fattest cow?" "Evil" is (typically) not about actions or results, but about motivations and intent. Sure, you got your paycheck, but what's the intent?
Florin_Andrei 13y ago
> If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. "If farmers are so evil why have they fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with" - said the cow.
- Houshalter 13y ago
  I think you and the other replies are missing the point. This is by far the most prosperous time in human history. It's not like we are living in some dystopia caused by corporations. It's certainly not anything compared to unfriendly AI.
  - Florin_Andrei 13y ago
    > This is by far the most prosperous time in human history. It's not like we are living in some dystopia Believe me, I don't disagree with that. Maybe I should emphasize that, even though I live in the Silicon Valley now, I grew up under communist dictatorship in Eastern EU. So I think I know a thing or two, from a practical standpoint, about Dystopia - the indoctrination, the forced labor, the rationing of electricity, fuel and food, the permanent fear of the secret police. That - I have not forgotten, for how could I. All I'm saying is - this golden age could be even better, far better, if it weren't for the constant skimming of the cream that goes on all the time at the top. If anything, it's the relative prosperity that makes it unlikely that the situation will ever be fixed. People don't rise as one, in anger, unless they are literally hungry and cold, in a physical sense. That, too, I know from first-hand experience. I've lived the incandescent emotions of the rioting mob while being one of them, out on the streets, 25 years ago, back home, in the dead of winter. But when they are more or less sated, and provided with adequate (if not highbrow) entertainment, people will allow astonishing amounts of corruption, bribery, and downright theft to keep going at the top of the pyramid of money. Is my belly full now? Yes. Am I more or less free to do most of the things I want? Yes. But do I still see corruption and injustice at the top, to the benefit of Big Money? Yes. I guess I'm one of those people who are strongly motivated by principle. Injustice remains injustice no matter how pretty the makeup.
  - 13y ago

r00fus 13y ago

Let's not dilute the point. The article states that the financial industry* is the "hostile AI" not all corporations (in fact, it clearly states that even the hated "energy" corporations actually provide a product - even if that ). Having recently re-read Dan Simmons' Hyperion series (sci-fi humans vs. AI masterpiece), I could almost see the analogy perfectly - finance is key to almost every part of our individual life, business and even political machinations. And in each, the big finance outfits are impervious, indifferent and have their own goals outside of their stated purpose. * I'd expand slightly to include all of FIRE - finance, real-estate and insurance

dropit_sphere 13y ago

They're not evil, they're not good. They just are. Blind worship and blind fear are errors of the same category: mistaking their nature.

ThomPete 13y ago

I am not disagreeing fundamentally but you can't use your success as an indicator of whether something is good or bad. The corporation that feed you might do other things other places to other people. As an example the De Beers in the diamond industry.

harrystone 13y ago

It's just much easier to think of things as being black and white. It really doesn't matter if it's true, it's just comforting.

yaketysax 13y ago

"If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house" If crime is so evil why has its pay fed my family, paid for my house

Terr_ 13y ago

> If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. "If the rancher is so evil, why does he give me bales of hay to chew on and allowed me to become the fattest cow?" "Evil" is (typically) not about actions or results, but about motivations and intent. Sure, you got your paycheck, but what's the intent?

Florin_Andrei 13y ago

> If corporations are so evil why has their pay fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with. "If farmers are so evil why have they fed my family, paid for my house and created so many amazing products we surround ourselves with" - said the cow.

Houshalter 13y ago
I think you and the other replies are missing the point. This is by far the most prosperous time in human history. It's not like we are living in some dystopia caused by corporations. It's certainly not anything compared to unfriendly AI.
- Florin_Andrei 13y ago
  > This is by far the most prosperous time in human history. It's not like we are living in some dystopia Believe me, I don't disagree with that. Maybe I should emphasize that, even though I live in the Silicon Valley now, I grew up under communist dictatorship in Eastern EU. So I think I know a thing or two, from a practical standpoint, about Dystopia - the indoctrination, the forced labor, the rationing of electricity, fuel and food, the permanent fear of the secret police. That - I have not forgotten, for how could I. All I'm saying is - this golden age could be even better, far better, if it weren't for the constant skimming of the cream that goes on all the time at the top. If anything, it's the relative prosperity that makes it unlikely that the situation will ever be fixed. People don't rise as one, in anger, unless they are literally hungry and cold, in a physical sense. That, too, I know from first-hand experience. I've lived the incandescent emotions of the rioting mob while being one of them, out on the streets, 25 years ago, back home, in the dead of winter. But when they are more or less sated, and provided with adequate (if not highbrow) entertainment, people will allow astonishing amounts of corruption, bribery, and downright theft to keep going at the top of the pyramid of money. Is my belly full now? Yes. Am I more or less free to do most of the things I want? Yes. But do I still see corruption and injustice at the top, to the benefit of Big Money? Yes. I guess I'm one of those people who are strongly motivated by principle. Injustice remains injustice no matter how pretty the makeup.
- 13y ago