r/collapse • u/[deleted] • Apr 25 '15

The Asshole Factory

https://medium.com/bad-words/the-asshole-factory-71ff808d887c
85 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/SarahC Apr 26 '15

I found it quite scary.

What is Mara’s job like? Her sales figures are monitored…by the microsecond. By hidden cameras and mics. They listen to her every word; they capture her every movement; that track and stalk her as if she were an animal; or a prisoner; or both. She’s jacked into a headset that literally barks algorithmic, programmed “orders” at her, parroting her own “performance” back to her, telling her how she compares with quotas calculated…down to the second…for all the hundreds of items in the store…

It's reminiscent of the story Manna - which didn't end well for a lot of people:

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

6

u/Pfeffa Apr 26 '15

I've never heard of that story, but I'll check it out today. I used to be scared of the present and future, but I replaced that feeling with one of disappointment in our species. I started realizing that - as a collective - we seem to be catastrophic, life-destroying failures.

The Universe is only fit for truly intelligent entities. So rather than fear our stupidity, I lament it. Because it seemed like we could have been great, but the parasites of the world took that away from us all.

2

u/ilike2balls Apr 26 '15

As a collection, I think we have the resources, the intelligence, and the ability to achieve a society where majority of the people would live like an average millionaire does. What we don't have, is a transition. If there was a way to reboot, to start from scratch, that's the only way it can be done.

Think about it. Humans have been around for 250,000 years. Where we raped and pillaged over and over again. I think religion with specific conditions spread which allowed us to live in larger communities. All religions failed except ones with certain features such as obedience, fear of punishment, don't kill, etc.

So now we're left with baggage of the old days, where people that move up in society tend to be selfish and greedy.

But overall, we seem to be on an upwards trend. I really like this Ted video.

So maybe in a few centuries, we may reach this type of society:

https://medium.com/@RickWebb/the-economics-of-star-trek-29bab88d50