• WerDei
      link
      fedilink
      3411 months ago

      Why is there a New Text Document under the N? Did someone use this meme as a desktop image? And then took a screenshot? Why?

      • @Trones@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        611 months ago

        I think the meme was made from a desktop screenshot, probably from an image search Great catch, I wouldn’t have noticed had you not pointed it out!

  • Rhaedas
    link
    fedilink
    5611 months ago

    It’s satire at the moment, but look at so many scifi works that have mega-corporate states ruling the world. They’re fiction now, but often times scifi is a bit of a look into a potential future ending up partially coming true. There’s no doubt that big corporations do have political influence already for a while now, so it’s just a step up to having them fully in charge, and no one will blink.

    • Zeerooth
      link
      fedilink
      2611 months ago

      Just look at South Korea where Samsung’s revenue is equal to a whopping 17% of the entire country’s GDP, making them hold enormous power over politics, education, journalism and the legal system.

      • @Perfide@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        1111 months ago

        And before anyone thinks “who cares, they’re just a phone/appliance company”, one of the most advanced autonomous sentry guns ever developed, so much so that almost everything about it is still highly classified, was made by a company that was at the time a subsidiary of Samsung.

    • @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      711 months ago

      Imagine if 20 years ago you wrote a sci-fi story where people spend a most of their time staring into rectangular devices that sends information that corporate controlled AIs decided they should be seeing. After staring at these rectangles for too long, people become angry and paranoid. Sometimes hypnotized to the point where some people commit mass murder or try to destroy their own democratically elected government.

      If you wrote that story 20 years ago it wouldn’t be published because it would be too unbelievable. But here we are.

      • Rhaedas
        link
        fedilink
        811 months ago

        Not to say it’s exactly the same plot, but Brave New World was published in 1932. Seems that writing too close to the near future is not great for sales, but far enough out and you’ve got a great novel, and readers will appreciate the vision and warnings it gives.

        And then fall for the trap anyway.

      • @verbalbotanics@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        111 months ago

        The iPhone came out in 2007, about 16 years ago. Blackberries were popular, it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch. But 30 years ago? Yeah probably

    • @barsoap@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      511 months ago

      They’re not fiction, the USSR had and China has even a seat on the security council and state capitalist countries are megacorps pretty much by definition.

  • @OtakuAltair@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    41
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Satire now but honestly doesn’t seem very far off, with how willing people are to give up their privacy to megacorps

    • Rozaŭtuno
      link
      fedilink
      1411 months ago

      Wasn’t there recently a city in the us that wanted to give corporations the right to vote? Or was that satire too?

      • @yeather@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        411 months ago

        Not satire, but the City of London has done something similar for a while. The thought process is you might not “live” there but you use it’s infastructure and facilities while at work. Giving the employees of the companies the right to vote within the city.

        • @Kajo@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          411 months ago

          “City of London” is the really small (like 2 square mile) area in the middle though isn’t it? AFAIK barely anyone is resident there so it might make sense if employees got to vote.

          • @yeather@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            211 months ago

            It is, not many people live in the area but plenty work and use it’s infastructure. Seaford, Delaware (where the new law is proposed) has a listed 7000 residents compared to the City of London’s 8500.

        • ‘For a while’ is really underselling it. They do and can do what they do because they have been doing it since time immemorial or rather for at least 2000 years.

  • katy ✨
    link
    fedilink
    2111 months ago

    no fear

    give amazon and facebook a seat on the un

    jesus f*%!king christ

  • @bleistift2@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    611 months ago

    The article—invented or not—states that they should be held accountable, too. I think that’s a step in the right direction.