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0 pointstsunamifury1y ago0 comments

On the other hand if you have ever worked at a high level in these companies they are hardcore evil. Maybe not in this case but they 100% do the evil thing and press it to their advantage.

0 comments

actionfromafar1y ago

Sure but there are different kinds of evil. Some larger categories are:

  - Screw everyone if I get more money and power
  - Self-aggrandazing evil
  - Hurt people for fun evil
  - Comic-book style take over the world evil

I think these are sorted in order of commonality. The top one is also the kind boardrooms attract at the upper echelons, just because of how the game is played.

DrScientist1y ago

I think you've missed perhaps the most common one.

- get them before they get you/ we have to do it because our competitors will.

ie fear is the driver, 'survival' is the goal.

cgio1y ago

That reads like a bad rationalisation of evil. Survival at the expense of someone else is not survival, it's the law of the jungle. The law of the jungle in the jungle is not evil, but we can do better than that, and we broadly expect better than that from others. So we should do better, even if sometimes to the intentional detriment of our profits and bonuses.

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tsunamifuryOP1y ago

Yes it’s primarily variations of your first one. At the owner level it has some flavor of the final one you list though.

I’d encourage you to have a conversation with Theil or Larry at some point and really hear in person how detached to the point of ‘evil’ they can get — and wrapped up in reshaping society for their own egotistical reasons.

stavros1y ago

What high level have you worked in these companies at? What things did you see? Can you post some examples?

baxtr1y ago

That’s the story you’re telling yourself to make sense of the world.

Y_Y1y ago

I would call this "understanding" and reckon it you could use it as a reply to pretty much any comment. Unless you see things exactly as they are and apply no interpretation, then this is the mechanism by which humans "make sense" of the world.

I guess you mean that the story is harmfully reductive or demands further critical examination, but I just want to defend telling oneself stories as a thinking tool.

baxtr1y ago

I agree that as human beings we can’t live without stories as thinking tool. Although I wouldn’t call it “understanding” but “interpreting”.

I wanted to say that good vs evil are hardly absolutes. No one at a large corporate comes to work saying: today I will be evil again.

Instead they tell themselves they’re helping investors getting a good return, or that they’re “smashing Google for copying iOS”.

There is a great quote by Shakespeare saying: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

I’d say storytelling makes it so!

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lnsru1y ago

Think about recent Boeing adventures. I will put these doings definitely in the evil category.

tsunamifuryOP1y ago

I brokered some portion of the omnibus agreements between the big 4.

The many parts of the agreements were clearly net negative outcomes for markets and users. Basic forms of collusion and cartel making were common.

sunshinerag1y ago

That is paranoia that the OP mentions.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

actionfromafar1y ago

Sure but there are different kinds of evil. Some larger categories are:

  - Screw everyone if I get more money and power
  - Self-aggrandazing evil
  - Hurt people for fun evil
  - Comic-book style take over the world evil

I think these are sorted in order of commonality. The top one is also the kind boardrooms attract at the upper echelons, just because of how the game is played.

DrScientist1y ago

I think you've missed perhaps the most common one.

- get them before they get you/ we have to do it because our competitors will.

ie fear is the driver, 'survival' is the goal.

cgio1y ago

1 more reply

tsunamifuryOP1y ago

Yes it’s primarily variations of your first one. At the owner level it has some flavor of the final one you list though.

stavros1y ago

What high level have you worked in these companies at? What things did you see? Can you post some examples?

baxtr1y ago

That’s the story you’re telling yourself to make sense of the world.

Y_Y1y ago

I guess you mean that the story is harmfully reductive or demands further critical examination, but I just want to defend telling oneself stories as a thinking tool.

baxtr1y ago

I agree that as human beings we can’t live without stories as thinking tool. Although I wouldn’t call it “understanding” but “interpreting”.

I wanted to say that good vs evil are hardly absolutes. No one at a large corporate comes to work saying: today I will be evil again.

Instead they tell themselves they’re helping investors getting a good return, or that they’re “smashing Google for copying iOS”.

There is a great quote by Shakespeare saying: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

I’d say storytelling makes it so!

1 more reply

lnsru1y ago

Think about recent Boeing adventures. I will put these doings definitely in the evil category.

tsunamifuryOP1y ago

I brokered some portion of the omnibus agreements between the big 4.

The many parts of the agreements were clearly net negative outcomes for markets and users. Basic forms of collusion and cartel making were common.

sunshinerag1y ago

That is paranoia that the OP mentions.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse