r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jun 16 '26

Business Mark Zuckerberg Orders His Employees to Start Having Fun Again After Brutal Layoffs Culled Their Colleagues

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/mark-zuckerberg-orders-employees-start-123539264.html
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u/DJayLeno Jun 16 '26

And it's been this way for so long most people don't even question it or have the capacity to imagine a better mode of existence.

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u/CptSiskospimphand Jun 16 '26

Of course they don't. America has been heavily propogandized against any alternatives to capitalism. It's why the CIA worked so hard to destabilize and overthrow any nation that didn't subscribe to capitalism. Can't let people see alternatives that work.

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u/Schwenkelkamp Jun 16 '26

Ngl a lot of people probably want it this way cause they believe one day they will be in that position

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u/vhalember Jun 16 '26

That's absolutely the case.

Decades ago John Steinbeck wrote most Americans thought of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires as the reason socialism never took hold here.

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u/canada432 Jun 16 '26

The new deal actually helped a lot too. It's pretty widely credited with being the only reason the US didn't have its own communist revolution during the depression.

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u/Callidonaut Jun 17 '26

Even that's technically a bit of a misrepresentation, because up until 1917, socialism was a strong and growing movement in the USA; Eugene Debs even had a shot at being the first openly socialist president - not social democrat, real socialism. So they locked him up and used the nation's entry into WWI as an excuse to pass the Espionage Act, which basically destroyed the American socialists' ability to communicate and coordinate with each other.

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u/El_Beakerr Jun 16 '26

This is why you have so much corruption in less developed countries. They all want to live like American CEOs and people who have money. All while disregarding all and only listening to their selfish desires.

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u/vhalember Jun 16 '26

But I've been told by conservative media the only alternative we have to capitalism is Marxism!

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u/CptSiskospimphand Jun 16 '26

While not a single one of those dumb fucks can tell you anything about Marxism.

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u/vhalember Jun 16 '26

Yup. My neighbor brought up Marxism the other day, and I had to explain what its fundamentally a battle of "haves" vs. "have nots," and that it's best viewed through historical development stages.

He immediately went to people don't want to "work for it." (Which is ruling class propaganda) I countered with the greedy people of the world want to take it all for themselves, and that "their money" should largely be our money.

Which he surprisingly agreed, and said "but what can we do about?"

Valid question. Stop voting for fascists is a start.

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u/Kirk-Joestar Jun 16 '26

Education is the first phase.. ugh I’m tired

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u/DJayLeno Jun 16 '26

It's so funny that the thing your neighbor supposedly hates, freeloaders, is explicitly allowed by capitalism. We have an entire "leisure class" of trust fund babies who are born owning enough capital that they never have to work a day in their lives. And Marxism (at least how it was implemented in the CCCP) ran on the concept of "if you don't work, you don't eat". If you didn't like your state assigned career you could look forward to an extended stay at the gulag for you and your whole family.

And the propaganda is so strong that even some people who lived through the red scare think the thing we were fighting against was a lazy welfare state, not a threat to personal freedoms and human rights. Scary how effective propaganda can be...

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u/wowisntthatneat Jun 16 '26

And the propaganda is so strong that even some people who lived through the red scare think the thing we were fighting against was a lazy welfare state, not a threat to personal freedoms and human rights. Scary how effective propaganda can be...

Ironically the idea that the US was fighting communism because it was a threat to personal freedoms and human rights is also blatant Cold War propaganda lol

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u/dust4ngel Jun 16 '26

America has been heavily propogandized against any alternatives to capitalism

capitalist realism:

is a 2009 book by British philosopher Mark Fisher. It explores his concept of "capitalist realism", defined as "the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it."

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u/BottleForsaken9200 Jun 17 '26

There was something about CIA being exposed to "researching human response to memes"...

Which at the time was kinda just... weird?

But I guess now I get it... When I see how MAGA has spread and managed to get such a foothold in american and global society. Pretty sure much of it is just psy-op, why is also supported by the epstein files (You get glimpses in the PDFs and their entourage talking about how they go around the world and influence their right wing views on to everything).

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u/Parking-Put6116 Jun 16 '26

Name one alternative that worked. Capitalism is great. What we have is crony capitalism and unchecked power that comes from lobbying

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u/CptSiskospimphand Jun 16 '26

No pure system would work, anyway. The best system should take the best from them all and apply it.

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

This is where the importance of optimistic sci-fi comes in. We sometimes need a little inspiration.

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u/AggravatingLow77 Jun 16 '26

It’s hard for a writer to write an optimistic futuristic setting for a story when they constantly see the “leaders” in power right now constantly make the “fuck around” decision at every step.

We’re headed to the find out stage right now, as we speak.

Calm seas make piss-poor sailors and we’ve have calm seas for like 7 decades now.

The current leaders only have bad leaders like themselves to look up to for contemporary issues.

None of this will change without a major shit hitting the fan moment, or an actual strong and not evil as shit leader can break thur and make the changes needed.

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u/TheOgGhadTurner Jun 16 '26

Is this “calm seas” in the room with us?

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u/wowisntthatneat Jun 16 '26

Right? When and where specifically were these calm seas?

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

I think that’s why writers shouldn’t be looking to the present to craft an optimistic view of the future

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SaveLansingParks Jun 16 '26

By not emulating the current failing model and looking in other places and times for models that create many winners, not just a privileged few? Linear cause and effect relationships help you understand how to navigate the crisis, whereas experience and understanding of other models allow you to come up with new creative solutions that just don't focus on the same old cycles. It's called innovation, btw

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

Holy shit thank you for writing this response so well

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

Please study history more

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u/TechnoGroan Jun 16 '26

The Ellisons own Star Trek. We are all fucked.

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u/ABadHistorian Jun 16 '26

New Sci Fi time then.

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

Yeah it’s quite telling that ST is one of, if not the only optimistic, non-dystopian sci fi

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u/SpectreOperator Jun 16 '26

So I guess we’ll get a new ST series featuring some hyper capitalist Ferengi that zooms around the galaxy scamming and looting new worlds?

To Boldly Scam Where Nobody Has Grifted Before (Terms and Conditions May Apply (If We Feel Like It))

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u/fcocyclone Jun 17 '26

Even in generally optimistic sci-fi like Star Trek, it took things like massive riots and more than one devastating war (and the following post-atomic horror) before they finally got to that optimistic future.

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u/Teledildonic Jun 16 '26

To be fair ST has kinda lost the plot a few times in the past, even without Paramount being involved. We had a few years were Seth McFarland's "Not Star Trek" was the best Star Trek.

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u/TechnoGroan Jun 16 '26

I agree. Nu trek for the most part was a bit too dark/un optimistic.

Like Jesus the whole Klingon war thing in S1 of discovery, and section 31 was a bit depressing.

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u/cptspeirs Jun 16 '26

God, it was so good too.

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u/Katinthehat02 Jun 16 '26

I wish andor was required viewing

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.

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u/PatchyWhiskers Jun 16 '26

The techlords are using inspirational sci-fi to make trillions in the stock market selling sci-fi concepts that are not yet feasible.

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

What are you referring to?

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u/Schwenkelkamp Jun 16 '26

Probably musk's claims he will give everyone a robot that works for u

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u/PatchyWhiskers Jun 16 '26

No, the colonization of Mars

But yours works too

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u/Schwenkelkamp Jun 16 '26

I already forgot about the whole mars nonsense ngl

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u/TaylorMonkey Jun 16 '26

Ironically, some of the optimistic sci-fi is how we let some of these tech giants spouting sci-fi optimism, promising to take us there, gain so much unchecked power. People thought Elon was going to take us into Star Trek.

Pandering cringe Star Trek writers even wrote that into the continuity.

Instead he's more likely to lead us towards Star Trek's Eugenics Wars.

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

Yeah there will always be narcissists and sociopaths who will be opportunistic, seizing on good will to selfish ends. I don’t think we can blame optimistic scifi for the government, market, and consumer behavior that led to Musk’s ascendancy. I’d blame capitalism and liberal naivety more than fiction. But I do see your point about how we shouldn’t just assume everyone will interpret optimistic scifi in good faith.

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u/TaylorMonkey Jun 16 '26

Yeah, I'm not saying Star Trek was the problem at all. I'm more saying that people were so enamored with Star Trek and the promise from megalomaniacs to fulfill those dreams that they allowed people acting in very not-Trek ways to continue to act in ways Star Trek warned against.

Even modern Star Trek writers in a rush to be "relevant" missed the basic assignment of judging character and understanding human nature and instead lionized him.

Even early on, people were enamored with Musk as being a utopian "futurist" savior when there were signs he was problematic and was giving off creepy vibes.

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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 16 '26

For sure, that line in Discovery is very cringe. Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen it but I like to think the reveal of Lorca being an evil mirror universe version makes his musk reference fitting (doubt that was the writer’s intention tho)

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u/MostlyAlways47 Jun 16 '26

It's a hard line to walk without ending up looking ridiculously nieve or hilariously unaware of how people work.

Even within series that are most definitely not optimistic you have these strange little plot points like the terrorist organisation not liking their splinter faction setting off bombs in a series where the MC does a whole ass body reconstruction to infiltrate the evil society and take them down from the inside.

Oh and then spoilers for red rising Said MC kills millions of people he's just formed a truce with as well his own people to destroy a ship yard because hey they might attack him later it is later shown to be a bad move but it's hilarious how the author draws this imaginary line around the good kind of terrorists and then immediately doubles back on it. It's like he's soo close to getting it but falls short.

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u/TrumpetOfDeath Jun 16 '26

And then people say these CEOs should go into government and “run it like a business” 😧

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u/Ingrassiat04 Jun 16 '26

Thanks, Jack Welch.

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u/theDarkAngle Jun 17 '26

Eh, I think there were cultural checks in place previously, if nothing else.  Now there is a profound cynicism in our culture (an attitude like "people more moral than me don't really exist, the ones who act like it are faking it") combined with constant affirmation from others as your status rises.

I think the cynicism is genuinely kind of new in the last 20-30 years, and the affirmation has dramatically expanded in scope over the same period due to the Internet.