If giant corporations continue on the path of the dinosaurs; growing ever-larger; dominating more landscape and minds, and if they continue to grow exponentially, we could become a Borg-like species. (Reference Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season Four, for a full explanation of what that means.)
By then, they will have superseded our free will, squelched our personal control, and dictated our speech. We will have completely separated into our respective hive-minds.
Red, conservative minds will be controlled by X and Elon Musk. Blue liberal minds will be controlled by Google, Amazon and Zoran Mamdani.
We will eventually come to worship our corporate overlords with fealty and complete submission. The world will be controlled by the technocrats whom we will obey without question. We will stop speaking out, fearing alienation by the hive.
Why? Because this will be the only way our dopamine-programmed brains will be able to maintain our emotional peace. Screens will provide our mental stimulation and sugar syrup will be our food. We will waste away in our Lazy Boy recliners with robots wiping our asses because we will only be able to sit, poop, eat and repeat.
Or
We could choose to turn off our devices, shop local, and defund the coming corporate-bureaucratic-technocratic hegemony. We become slaves to our devices if we get all of our information from them and the algorithms they use to program us. And make no mistake: we are being programmed, especially if an increasing number of your purchases are made via Amazon and Uber Eats, and your only source of news and communication is via TikTok influencers. What is the end game?
Don’t get me wrong, I love technology. I even love TikTok influencers, a few of whom I had the pleasure of meeting recently at the opening of Saffron Valley’s latest new creation, Central. But there is a problem when an ever-increasing amount of our GDP is dependent upon giant corporations. The corporate powers gain an ever-increasing amount of influence over us.
Two milestones were recently reached; Nvidia became the first $5 trillion dollar market cap company, and Apple reached a $4 trillion dollar level. Combine Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Facebook to that mix, and these companies have more combined market capitalization than many countries. Amazon, Google and Facebook have more power than most countries.
Amazon, with its 1.5 million employees, is nearly the size of a small country by population. But that won’t last. Amazon plans to replace most of its workforce with robots in the next five years.
What bothers me is that not only do we bend the knee and kiss the ring of our corporate overlords, but so do our political leaders. Amazon has received nearly $12 billion in government subsidies since 2000, according to Good Job’s First Amazon Tracker. And Utah has given Amazon a good share of that, handing over large chunks of change to entice (i.e.: bribe) Amazon to build larger fulfillment centers, helping to expedite the demise of local retail.
But back to my original point: we can stop this nonsense if we would simply choose to buy more locally-made products from locally-owned shops. There are an abundance of amazing products; there are tons of great shops. This issue is a guide to help return power to you as a consumer.
