For example, we still have the equivalent of early Medieval English right of "socn" ("soke") — the right to withdraw our loyalty from one lord and grant it to another. We're not "tied" to our corporate overlords the same way that serfs were through strict infeudation.

A recent court case threw out most of the nonsense non-compete clauses also helped beat away or forestall the rising threat of "you can't leave with what you know... I'll make you unemployable." But that was a threat to modern day "sokesmen."

One can even establish themselves as their own freeholder by incorporating, say as an LLC, or remaining a "freelancer" like the errant knights of old.

In other terms of what I consider "corporate feudalism:"

• Do you wear any "corporate heraldry" (logo'd gear like t-shirts, hoodies, polos, backpacks, laptop stickers, etc.)

• Do you participate in any "corporate jousting?" (benchmarks, competitive bakeoffs, panel talks or meetups)

• Do you have or retain any intellectual property you've created during your employment, or was it all work-for-hire and assigned away in perpetuity?

And don't get me wrong. I am somewhat of a big fan of the medieval period and feudalism. In a way there were more freedoms under feudalism than we realize.

Certainly we had far more free time.

I just find it an interesting mental exercise to spot the commonalities and the differences of then and now.