WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Okay, let's start with a vibe check today. Oh 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:06.919 boy. Okay. You know that specific feeling you 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:09.119 get when you're on hold with customer service. 00:00:09.939 --> 00:00:12.199 You've been listening to a distorted looping 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:16.239 saxophone solo for what feels like 45 minutes. 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:19.359 You know the exact one I mean. It is the absolute 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.079 soundtrack of modern patience. Yes. Exactly. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.160 Every three minutes or so, a robotic voice cuts 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.719 in to tell you that call volume is higher than 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.300 expected. Which, let's be honest, is just the 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:33.640 new normal. Right. It's always higher than expected. 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:35.539 And it's annoying, right? It makes you want to 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:37.500 throw your phone across the room. Yeah. But then 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:39.700 there's a different feeling, a much, much darker 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:41.719 feeling. Right, because the feeling shifts entirely 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:43.539 when you stop looking at a frustrating phone 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:45.359 bill and start reading the actual headlines. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.079 Exactly. I'm talking about the feeling you get 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:50.990 when you read about a company, say, Dumping toxic 00:00:50.990 --> 00:00:53.829 chemicals into a town's water supply just to 00:00:53.829 --> 00:00:56.850 save a few bucks on disposal fees. Yeah. Or a 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:59.710 massive agricultural company patenting a seed 00:00:59.710 --> 00:01:02.060 so a farmer can't replant it next year. Right. 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:05.560 Or a massive global conglomerate actively betting 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.120 against the very economy they operate in. Yes. 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:10.780 That is a very different category of emotional 00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:14.060 response. It shifts from simple annoyance to 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:17.159 something primal. Fear, maybe. Or at least a 00:01:17.159 --> 00:01:20.359 very deep systemic distrust. And that is exactly 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:23.120 where we are living today. We have a massive 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:25.000 stack of research here and we are going to use 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:28.840 it to trace the history of a very specific, very 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.239 loaded idea. The evil corporation. The evil corporation. 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.480 And I don't mean evil like a cartoon villain 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:37.819 twirling a mustache and a top hat. Though historically 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:40.379 speaking, some of the early robber barons definitely 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:43.859 did wear top hats. Okay, fair point. But today 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:46.319 we mean evil as a cultural concept, a literary 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.900 trope, and now, weirdly enough, a legitimate 00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:52.180 category of social activism. It's a phrase everyone 00:01:52.180 --> 00:01:54.359 listening probably knows and uses. But I want 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.019 to know where it actually comes from. What's 00:01:56.019 --> 00:01:58.140 the mission for this deep dive? Well, it's fascinating 00:01:58.140 --> 00:02:00.299 because it's one of the very few concepts that 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:02.980 started almost entirely in fiction, specifically 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:05.920 science fiction. And then it sort of backported 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.620 itself into reality. The evil corporation is 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:11.580 essentially a lens we use to view modern capitalism. 00:02:11.939 --> 00:02:14.139 So it's a way for us to make sense of these giant 00:02:14.139 --> 00:02:16.780 faceless entities. Precisely. We are looking 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:20.780 at a study of capitalism plus hubris. We're exploring 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:24.060 how society uses fiction to process our deep 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:27.659 anxiety about unchecked corporate power. So here's 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:30.379 our roadmap for the deep dive. We're going to 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:33.379 look at the blueprint. Where did this idea originate? 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.419 We'll examine the fictional monsters that literally 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:38.020 taught us to fear the boardroom. Everything from 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:41.139 Alien to Mr. Robot. And then we're going to see 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:44.340 how that fiction bled into real life. From Google's 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:46.960 code of conduct to what they call black companies 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.520 in Japan. And finally, we absolutely have to 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.840 talk about the really heavy events from late 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.439 2024 and 2025. Right. Where this rhetoric actually 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.180 spilled over into real world violence and caused 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.840 a massive shift in public discourse. It is a 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.159 heavy stack of sources today. It really is. But 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:04.900 let's start with the basics, the definition, 00:03:05.139 --> 00:03:08.039 because evil is a really strong word. It is. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:11.000 I've had bad bosses. You've probably worked for 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.340 companies that were just disorganized. But according 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:15.810 to the sources. We aren't just talking about 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:18.069 a company that sells a bad product, are we? No. 00:03:18.189 --> 00:03:20.569 The distinction there is crucial. If a bakery 00:03:20.569 --> 00:03:24.490 sells you a stale croissant, they aren't an evil 00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:27.110 corporation. They're just a bad bakery. Exactly. 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:30.719 The source material strictly defines the evil 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:33.120 corporation trope as an entity that actively 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.199 ignores social responsibility, morality, ethics, 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:40.199 and sometimes the law specifically to maximize 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:43.400 profit for its shareholders. It's the intentionality 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.719 that gets me. It's the maximization part. Yes. 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:48.199 It is the calculation of it all. It's the idea 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:50.620 that human suffering is literally just a line 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:52.819 item on a spreadsheet for them. Like a cost of 00:03:52.819 --> 00:03:55.659 doing business. Exactly. If the fine for breaking 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:57.759 the law is cheaper than... the cost of following 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.360 the law. The evil corporation breaks the law. 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:02.900 Because it makes financial sense. Right. It's 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:06.039 purely algorithmic amorality. It is not that 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:08.259 they hate you. It's that they simply do not care 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:11.180 about you. And that algorithmic coldness just 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:12.780 feels like it comes straight from a Hollywood 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:14.979 writer's room. The research points out that science 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:17.259 fiction was really the initial breeding ground 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:21.829 for this trope. But. Why sci -fi? Why not westerns 00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:24.470 or romance novels? It makes perfect sense if 00:04:24.470 --> 00:04:26.129 you think about the history of the 20th century. 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:28.589 How so? Well, as governments started to step 00:04:28.589 --> 00:04:31.269 back in certain regulatory areas, corporations 00:04:31.269 --> 00:04:34.730 became global superpowers. They became entities 00:04:34.730 --> 00:04:38.189 that transcended borders and flags. Right. Multinational. 00:04:38.250 --> 00:04:40.610 So writers started looking at this and asking 00:04:40.610 --> 00:04:43.290 a very specific warning system kind of question. 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:46.170 What happens if a company becomes more powerful 00:04:46.170 --> 00:04:50.029 than a state? Ah. It's the capitalism plus hubris 00:04:50.029 --> 00:04:53.009 equation. That is the exact phrase the analysts 00:04:53.009 --> 00:04:56.129 use, hubris. It's not just about making money 00:04:56.129 --> 00:04:58.779 anymore. It's about playing God. Wow. In these 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:01.740 stories, the corporation is the true antagonist. 00:05:01.819 --> 00:05:04.660 You might have a scary alien or a rogue robot 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.800 running around, but those are just the symptoms. 00:05:07.060 --> 00:05:09.660 The disease is the company policy. Precisely. 00:05:09.699 --> 00:05:11.139 We have to do the roll call here because the 00:05:11.139 --> 00:05:13.439 specific examples in the research are just iconic. 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:15.920 And I want to dig a bit deeper into why these 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:17.939 resonate so much with people. Let's do it. Let's 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:19.660 start with the heavy hitter. The one that I think 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:22.519 really set the template for all of this. Film 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:27.250 from the late 70s. Alien. The Weyland -Yutani 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.209 Corporation. Building better worlds. Right. That's 00:05:30.209 --> 00:05:33.490 their slogan, which is just deeply, deeply ironic. 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:36.209 It's the most corporate slogan imaginable. But 00:05:36.209 --> 00:05:38.550 the reality of the movie is they send a blue 00:05:38.550 --> 00:05:41.509 collar crew. Basically just space truckers. Right. 00:05:41.569 --> 00:05:43.949 Space truckers onto a planet to pick up a biological 00:05:43.949 --> 00:05:47.550 weapon, the alien. And the real horror is the 00:05:47.550 --> 00:05:49.990 secret order the company gives to the ship's 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:53.730 computer. Special Order 937. Priority 1. Ensure 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:57.149 return of organism for analysis. All other considerations 00:05:57.149 --> 00:06:00.149 secondary. Crew expendable. Crew expendable. 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:02.350 That phrase gives me chills every single time 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:04.449 I hear it. Because Weyland -Yutani is the prototype, 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:07.129 it perfectly represents the disposable human 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:09.649 anxiety. What does that mean exactly? The true 00:06:09.649 --> 00:06:12.389 horror in Alien isn't just the monster with the 00:06:12.389 --> 00:06:14.730 acid blood, it's the fact that the company knows 00:06:14.730 --> 00:06:16.670 about the monster and sends you into the room 00:06:16.670 --> 00:06:18.889 with it anyway. Because the creature is worth 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:22.259 more to the shareholders than your life is? Exactly. 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:26.100 That is a very specific labor anxiety codified 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:28.759 into a monster movie. That makes so much sense. 00:06:29.139 --> 00:06:31.259 Okay, moving on, we've got the Tyrell Corporation 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:34.519 from Blade Runner. Their motto is more human 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:38.120 than human. Which taps into the hubris of creation. 00:06:39.209 --> 00:06:42.529 Tyrell creates life, the replicants, but he only 00:06:42.529 --> 00:06:45.449 creates them to enslave them for off -world labor. 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:47.949 It represents the deep fear that corporations 00:06:47.949 --> 00:06:51.610 will eventually own us, our biology, our minds. 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:53.629 And you see a similar theme in the Wallace Corporation 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:56.769 in the sequel. Yes. It's the total commodification 00:06:56.769 --> 00:06:59.290 of sentient life. They aren't people. They are 00:06:59.290 --> 00:07:01.490 products to be bought and sold. Okay, for the 00:07:01.490 --> 00:07:03.110 gamers listening, I know you've been waiting 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:05.850 for this section. It's... Maybe the most cynical 00:07:05.850 --> 00:07:08.269 entry on the list. Vault -Tec from Fallout. Oh, 00:07:08.290 --> 00:07:10.569 absolutely terrifying and full of dark comedy, 00:07:10.689 --> 00:07:13.550 too. Right on surface, they sell survival. Nuclear 00:07:13.550 --> 00:07:16.310 war is coming by a spot in our underground vault. 00:07:16.529 --> 00:07:18.670 It seems like a vital public service. But the 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:21.050 twist, which the games reveal very slowly as 00:07:21.050 --> 00:07:22.550 you explore, is that the vaults weren't really 00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:25.379 about saving people at all. No, they were elaborate 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:28.079 social experiments. The government had collapsed 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.060 and this massive private company was secretly 00:07:31.060 --> 00:07:33.540 running the show. Just twisted experiments, like 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.339 let's put 100 people in a vault with only one 00:07:36.339 --> 00:07:39.079 gun. Or let's pump psychoactive drugs into the 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:41.300 air vents for 50 years and see what happens to 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:44.220 the social dynamic. It's wild. What anxiety does 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:46.759 Voltech represent? The privatization of the public 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.259 good. In a massive disaster, you expect the government 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:53.100 or aid agencies to step in and help. Right. But 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:55.639 in Fallout... The government is gone. The private 00:07:55.639 --> 00:07:58.720 sector steps in not to save you, but to use you 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.980 as a literal lab rat. It is the ultimate betrayal 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.180 of public trust. And since we're talking about 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.040 gaming, the sources also highlight Umbrella Corporation 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.500 from Resident Evil. A classic pharmaceutical 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:12.740 fubris. And Shinra Electric Power Company from 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:15.660 Final Fantasy VII. Literally draining the lifeblood 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:18.259 of the planet for energy. Pure resource extraction 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:21.000 without any care for the environmental consequence. 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:22.740 It's funny you mentioned privatization earlier, 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.939 though, because that brings us to OCP from RoboCop, 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.060 Omni Consumer Products. A great example. They 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:31.319 literally try to buy the entire police force 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:35.539 of Detroit. RoboCop is satire, but it is incredibly 00:08:35.539 --> 00:08:39.000 biting satire. OCT wants to tear down Detroit 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.419 and build Delta City. They want to privatize 00:08:41.419 --> 00:08:44.019 the police, the schools, the infrastructure. 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:47.809 And the evil here is what? That justice has a 00:08:47.809 --> 00:08:51.389 price tag. Exactly. The idea that justice itself 00:08:51.389 --> 00:08:54.690 can be a premium product. If you can't pay, you 00:08:54.690 --> 00:08:56.970 don't get protected. And it gets worse because 00:08:56.970 --> 00:09:00.190 they program the police, RoboCop himself, to 00:09:00.190 --> 00:09:03.289 be physically unable to arrest any OCP executive. 00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:06.190 Directive 4. Directive 4 is the ultimate corporate 00:09:06.190 --> 00:09:08.789 immunity. You literally cannot arrest the boss. 00:09:08.970 --> 00:09:10.929 No matter what crimes they commit. And we absolutely 00:09:10.929 --> 00:09:14.129 cannot skip Terminator. Cyberdyne systems. Right. 00:09:14.230 --> 00:09:15.929 This is the fear of unintended consequences. 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:18.669 Cyberdyne didn't want to destroy the world necessarily. 00:09:19.049 --> 00:09:20.669 They just wanted the defense contract. Exactly. 00:09:20.730 --> 00:09:22.830 They just wanted to advance technology to build 00:09:22.830 --> 00:09:26.049 Skynet. But they did it without any ethical safeguards. 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:28.789 They pursued rapid innovation without pausing 00:09:28.789 --> 00:09:31.330 to ask if they actually should. We do what we 00:09:31.330 --> 00:09:34.809 must because we can. Right. Which actually happens 00:09:34.809 --> 00:09:36.450 to be the motto of Aperture Science from the 00:09:36.450 --> 00:09:39.110 Game Portal. Another fantastic example from our 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:41.429 research list. Science divorced entirely from 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:44.929 morality. We do it because we can. That is a 00:09:44.929 --> 00:09:47.950 truly terrifying philosophy for an entity that 00:09:47.950 --> 00:09:51.269 has unlimited funding and zero oversight. And 00:09:51.269 --> 00:09:53.789 more recently, we've seen this trope evolve on 00:09:53.789 --> 00:09:56.509 television, too. The research mentions Lumen 00:09:56.509 --> 00:09:59.460 Industries from Severance. Severance is a brilliant 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:03.120 modern classic of this exact trope. It deals 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.700 with the total bifurcation of the self. Right. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.940 You sever your memories so you can work a full 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:10.159 eight hours without knowing who you are on the 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.059 outside. It's the ultimate dark critique of work 00:10:13.059 --> 00:10:15.919 -life balance. The company owns your time so 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.039 completely that you actually cease to exist as 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:20.080 a conscious person during business hours. You 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.980 are just a resource, a literal human resource. 00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:25.340 Yes. And of course, Mr. Robot. I mean, they didn't 00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:28.399 even try to hide it. Not at all. character literally 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:32.440 hears the company name E -Corp as Evil Corp every 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.500 single time it is spoken out loud. Subtlety was 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:38.440 definitely not the goal there, but it shows how 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:41.740 pervasive the term had become by the 2010s. The 00:10:41.740 --> 00:10:44.360 Evil Corporation was no longer a hidden subtext. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:49.039 It was just the text. Okay, so we have this incredibly 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.159 rich library of fictional villains. We've got 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.990 the disposable human from Alien. The privatized 00:10:54.990 --> 00:10:57.809 state from Robocop and science without ethics 00:10:57.809 --> 00:11:00.909 from Terminator. But here is where the deep dive 00:11:00.909 --> 00:11:03.970 gets a little uncomfortable. We have to cross 00:11:03.970 --> 00:11:06.350 the bridge. Yeah. Because this isn't just about 00:11:06.350 --> 00:11:09.029 fun movies and games anymore. Yeah. Real world 00:11:09.029 --> 00:11:11.669 companies are actively wrestling with this label. 00:11:11.789 --> 00:11:14.659 And the most famous example. in the sources of 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:16.879 a company explicitly trying to avoid this label 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:18.960 is, of course, Google. The don't be evil era. 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:21.039 Yeah. It sounds almost quaint now, doesn't it? 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:22.860 Like a relic from a much simpler time on the 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:25.299 Internet. It really does. But we have to remember 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:27.919 that in the early 2000s, that was a revolutionary 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.620 stance. Don't be evil was their official motto. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.460 It was right there in the S -1 filing when they 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:35.720 went public? Exactly. It was a clear signal to 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:38.320 the software engineers and to the public that, 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.919 hey, we are not Microsoft. We are not IBM. We 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:44.600 are the good guys. They framed themselves as 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:47.679 the scrappy underdog with the colorful primary 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:50.899 color logo. But the sources point out a shift. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.899 A very literal shift in the paperwork that happened 00:11:53.899 --> 00:11:57.720 years later. Yes. Over time, as Google reorganized 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.320 under their new parent company Alphabet, that 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:04.259 specific phrase, don't be evil, was moved. Where 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:07.419 did it go? It went from the very preface of the 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:09.559 code of conduct. The first thing you'd read. 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:11.820 The very first thing. And it was moved all the 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:13.700 way down to the very end. So they didn't delete 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:16.759 it completely. It wasn't removed entirely. No. 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:19.580 But it was certainly de -emphasized. It became 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.360 essentially a footnote. And people definitely 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.620 noticed. The research cites Rob Enderle. a major 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:26.899 tech analyst who basically argued that the motto 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:29.100 was gaslighting from the very start. Well, look 00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:31.360 at the sheer volume of accusations that have 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.419 piled up over the years. Secret data collection, 00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:36.519 tracking user location, even when users explicitly 00:12:36.519 --> 00:12:38.879 turn the setting off. Cooperating with government 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.659 surveillance programs. Potential political bias 00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:45.059 in search results. The argument Enderly and other 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:47.639 critics make is that Google's core business model 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:51.200 is surveillance. Can you have a business model 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.809 based entirely on... harvesting personal data 00:12:54.809 --> 00:12:58.289 and truly not be evil. That is the crux of the 00:12:58.289 --> 00:13:00.950 debate. It really highlights the massive gap 00:13:00.950 --> 00:13:03.909 between a brand's identity and its operational 00:13:03.909 --> 00:13:07.320 reality. OK, if Google is our tech example, we 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.159 have to talk about the retail side. The Walmart 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.600 paradox. Yes, the sources call it the Walmart 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.039 paradox. This is honestly one of the most interesting 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:15.759 parts of the research stack because it deals 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.759 directly with us, the consumers. It turns the 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:21.419 mirror around and points it at society. So walk 00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:23.559 us through this paradox. How does it work? The 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:25.240 debate over corporate social responsibility, 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:27.659 which is one of our key sources, notes that for 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:30.259 a huge swath of the population, Walmart is the 00:13:30.259 --> 00:13:32.980 absolute prototype of a real world evil corporation. 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:35.289 Yeah, you hear the complaints constantly. Right. 00:13:35.389 --> 00:13:38.450 They destroy Main Street small businesses. They 00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:42.210 pay wages so low that full time employees end 00:13:42.210 --> 00:13:45.149 up on government food stamps. They aggressively 00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:47.789 crush unionization efforts. Right. The reputation 00:13:47.789 --> 00:13:50.429 is totally cemented. If you ask someone on the 00:13:50.429 --> 00:13:53.470 street to name a bad company, Walmart is almost 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:55.909 always in the top three. But here is the paradox. 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:59.649 Record numbers of people still shop there every 00:13:59.649 --> 00:14:02.740 single year. Because the prices are low. I mean, 00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:04.740 look at the economy right now. People need cheap 00:14:04.740 --> 00:14:07.120 groceries. They need to survive. Exactly. And 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.360 this creates a profound state of cognitive dissonance 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:13.320 for the public. We condemn the corporate behavior 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.620 morally, but we reward that exact same behavior 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:19.480 financially. Wow. We vote with our dollars for 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:21.940 the very thing we say we hate. We do. That's 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:23.559 a really tough mirror to look into. It raises 00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:25.919 a huge question. Can a corporation really be 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:29.090 evil if society happily keeps feeding it? Or 00:14:29.090 --> 00:14:31.870 are we accomplices? The research suggests that 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:34.830 evil in the real world isn't about a comic book 00:14:34.830 --> 00:14:37.409 villain in a glass tower. It's about a complex 00:14:37.409 --> 00:14:39.690 system of incentives that fundamentally includes 00:14:39.690 --> 00:14:42.769 the customer. We demand cheap goods. We demand 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.730 them. And the evil corporation is just the machine 00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:48.710 that delivers those goods most efficiently. Speaking 00:14:48.710 --> 00:14:51.269 of complex systems, the research also heavily 00:14:51.269 --> 00:14:53.990 touches on agriculture. The New Yorker pointed 00:14:53.990 --> 00:14:56.429 out that for many food activists, Monsanto is 00:14:56.429 --> 00:14:59.379 basically... Now, part of Bayer, yes. And this 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:01.720 goes directly back to the alien or Blade Runner 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:04.000 anxiety we talked about. Tampering with biology. 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:07.559 Exactly. Monsanto famously patented seeds. They 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:10.159 engineered crops that could survive being sprayed 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.600 with their own proprietary weed killer. And then 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.039 they actively sued small farmers who saved seeds 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:18.519 from one harvest to plant the next year. Which 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:20.600 is literally how farming has worked for 10 ,000 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:23.039 years. You save the seeds for next season. Right. 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.799 So when a massive corporation steps in and says, 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.679 no, we. the intellectual property rights to the 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:31.179 genetic code of this corn. It feels like a massive 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:34.059 violation of nature. It taps into a very deep, 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.440 very primal fear that someone is out there privatizing 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:39.720 the fundamental building blocks of life itself. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.980 So we've got tech retail and agriculture. Yeah. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.539 But I want to take a trip for a second because 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:47.580 the sources bring up something absolutely fascinating 00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:50.480 happening in Japan right now. Yes. This isn't 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.330 just a Western trope, is it? Not at all. And 00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:55.710 in Japan, they have formalized the concept in 00:15:55.710 --> 00:15:58.830 a way that is honestly kind of mind blowing. 00:15:59.070 --> 00:16:02.370 Yeah. We need to talk about the Black Company. 00:16:02.769 --> 00:16:05.929 Rakukigyo. Yes. In Japan, the term Black Company 00:16:05.929 --> 00:16:08.769 is a widely understood cultural label. It refers 00:16:08.769 --> 00:16:11.850 to a very specific type of deeply exploitative 00:16:11.850 --> 00:16:14.009 employment system, and they actually have an 00:16:14.009 --> 00:16:16.429 award for it. The most evil corporation of the 00:16:16.429 --> 00:16:18.850 year award. Also known simply as the Black Company 00:16:18.850 --> 00:16:21.090 Award. It's organized by a dedicated committee 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.450 of journalists, lawyers, and labor activists. 00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:26.350 Wow. It is a formal annual event where they gather 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:28.269 to announce a winner. I mean, just imagine the 00:16:28.269 --> 00:16:32.279 Oscars. But for horrific labor violations. And 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:34.379 the award for worst human rights abuses goes 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:36.659 to... It's exactly that format. But it's absolutely 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:39.399 not a joke. It is a very serious public shaming 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.120 ritual. They judge companies on workplace discrimination, 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:44.700 harassment, unpaid overtime. And this is the 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:47.519 really big one, karoshi. Karoshi. That's the 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:50.299 Japanese word for death by overwork, right? Correct. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.200 It is an official medical and legal term in Japan. 00:16:53.820 --> 00:16:57.080 It covers heart attacks strokes or suicides that 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.620 are directly caused by severe workplace stress 00:16:59.620 --> 00:17:02.659 and exhaustion. Unbelievable. The sources specifically 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:05.599 mentioned that in 2016 the massive advertising 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:09.559 giant Dentsu was officially named the most evil 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:12.970 corporation. It followed a highly publicized 00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:16.029 tragic case involving a young employee who died 00:17:16.029 --> 00:17:18.750 by suicide after being forced to work extreme 00:17:18.750 --> 00:17:21.430 excessive overtime hours. That just stops you 00:17:21.430 --> 00:17:23.710 in your tracks. It does. Because in the West, 00:17:23.789 --> 00:17:25.930 we might call a company evil on social media 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:27.710 because they raised the price of a video game 00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:30.859 or changed a streaming layout. Yeah. But in Japan, 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.099 they're using the exact same label to call out 00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:35.160 literal death counts. It really shows the utility 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:37.480 of the label, though. It takes the abstract concept 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:39.839 of the evil corporation out of the realm of vague 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.539 Internet insults and turns it into a sharp tool 00:17:43.539 --> 00:17:46.240 for real world accountability. It says you have 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.220 crossed a definitive line. You are destroying 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:51.980 your own people. It defines the strict parameters 00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:54.960 of corporate evil, the total destruction of employee 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.140 well -being for the sake of profit. It's Dentsu. 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.119 But it sounds exactly like Weyland -Yutani again. 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:04.779 Crew expendable. It is the exact same dynamic 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:07.359 just playing out in reality. Now, speaking of 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:09.880 social pressure and breaking points, we have 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:11.880 to move to the final section of our research 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.019 stack. This brings us right up to the bleeding 00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:19.279 edge. Late 2024 and early 2025. This is where 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.980 the line between the science fiction we were 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:24.400 just talking about and real world news completely 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.859 and totally blurred. We are talking about the 00:18:26.859 --> 00:18:29.079 flashpoint involving the shooting of UnitedHealth 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:32.960 CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. Now, before 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.900 we get into this, we need to be extremely clear 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.200 to you listening. We are analyzing the reaction 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.380 and the language used by the public as documented 00:18:39.380 --> 00:18:41.700 in the sources. Correct. We are remaining strictly 00:18:41.700 --> 00:18:44.079 neutral here. The event itself was a tragedy 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:47.359 and a severe crime. But sociologically speaking, 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.819 the public response to it was utterly unprecedented. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.500 Right. The sources note a significant widespread 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:55.559 wave of, well, outrage is putting it mildly. 00:18:55.579 --> 00:18:59.019 People were incredibly angry. But they weren't 00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.200 just angry at a single person. They were angry 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.500 at the entire system. Yes. The sources note that 00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:07.000 Americans specifically turned their massive collective 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.619 focus toward health insurance companies as a 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:12.839 whole. And this is exactly where our topic today 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:15.539 comes full circle. Because when people went to 00:19:15.539 --> 00:19:19.180 social media to express the systemic anger, they 00:19:19.180 --> 00:19:21.619 didn't just use standard political terms. They 00:19:21.619 --> 00:19:24.240 used the vocabulary of the evil corporation. 00:19:24.700 --> 00:19:26.940 They were using the language of Cyberdyne and 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:29.680 E -Corp to talk about real life. Yes, they were. 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:32.579 You saw direct comparisons to fictional villains. 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:35.240 You saw the word parasite being used constantly. 00:19:35.420 --> 00:19:38.339 You saw the narrative frame of the people versus 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:41.099 the entity. The central argument being made by 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:42.740 the public was that these insurance companies 00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:45.420 were practicing that. exact hubris we defined 00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:48.059 at the start of the deep dive. Denying care to 00:19:48.059 --> 00:19:50.960 maximize profit? Denying care, prioritizing cold 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:54.019 algorithms over actual patient health and maximizing 00:19:54.019 --> 00:19:56.480 shareholder profit at the direct cost of human 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.980 life. It's almost like the fiction prepared us 00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:01.640 for how to process the reality. When people felt 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:04.980 completely powerless against a massive bureaucracy 00:20:04.980 --> 00:20:08.059 that they felt was actively hurting them, they 00:20:08.059 --> 00:20:10.359 reach for the stories that already explain that 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.829 dynamic. That is a really profound insight. Science 00:20:13.829 --> 00:20:16.789 fiction acts as a functional vocabulary for real 00:20:16.789 --> 00:20:20.369 world protest. Yeah. If you don't have the academic 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:23.369 or economic words to describe a complex injustice, 00:20:23.750 --> 00:20:27.410 you use the metaphor of the evil empire or the 00:20:27.410 --> 00:20:30.849 megacore. It simplifies a massive systemic issue 00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:34.029 into a clear moral struggle. It validates the 00:20:34.029 --> 00:20:36.390 feeling of the individual. It says you aren't 00:20:36.390 --> 00:20:38.589 crazy for feeling crushed by this system. This 00:20:38.589 --> 00:20:41.140 is a story that has been told 100 times. Exactly. 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:43.960 The evil corporation trope isn't just popcorn 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:46.099 entertainment anymore. It has become a legitimate 00:20:46.099 --> 00:20:48.359 framework for how we interpret modern justice. 00:20:48.579 --> 00:20:50.640 The public reaction to the health care crisis 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:53.579 in late 2024 clearly showed that people view 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:55.579 these companies not just as businesses that are 00:20:55.579 --> 00:20:58.539 too expensive, but as actual moral antagonists 00:20:58.539 --> 00:21:01.200 in the story of their own lives. It is a really 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.900 sobering realization. We've gone from watching 00:21:03.900 --> 00:21:07.619 Sigourney Weaver fight an alien in space to watching 00:21:07.619 --> 00:21:10.089 real people fight for basic insurance. coverage. 00:21:10.589 --> 00:21:13.750 And the villain looks suspiciously similar in 00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:15.990 both versions. It really validates the idea that 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:18.190 these fictional stories are warning systems. 00:21:18.309 --> 00:21:20.789 They aren't predicting the future. They are diagnosing 00:21:20.789 --> 00:21:24.190 the present. So where does this leave us? We 00:21:24.190 --> 00:21:26.869 have traced the DNA from early sci -fi and Blade 00:21:26.869 --> 00:21:30.349 Runner to Google's fine print, to public shaming 00:21:30.349 --> 00:21:32.930 awards in Tokyo, and finally to the streets of 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:34.769 New York and the massive health care protests 00:21:34.769 --> 00:21:36.950 in the U .S. I think it leads to the conclusion 00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:40.119 that the evil corporation is a modern myth. And 00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:42.680 I use myth in the strict academic sense there, 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:45.359 a vital story that helps a culture navigate the 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:47.660 world. We use it to draw lines in the sand. We 00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:50.099 use it to collectively decide what is acceptable 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:52.839 capitalism and what is dangerous hubris. It forces 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.019 us to constantly ask, where is the line? Is it 00:21:56.019 --> 00:21:58.440 when you treat workers like literal robots? Is 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:00.660 it when you privatize a corn seed? Is it when 00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:03.000 you deny a lifesaving surgery just to save a 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:05.619 few bucks on the quarterly report? And the ultimate 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.420 answer seems to be that the line is exactly where 00:22:08.420 --> 00:22:10.880 the humanity ends and the calculation begins, 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:13.359 when the spreadsheet becomes more important than 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.059 the pulse. And that brings us right back to us, 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.680 you listening, the customer. The shareholder. 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:22.180 Right. Because let's be honest, most of us have 00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:26.349 four. Oh, one makes or pension funds. We are 00:22:26.349 --> 00:22:29.009 technically part owners of these massive entities. 00:22:29.490 --> 00:22:31.390 I want to leave you with a final thought to chew 00:22:31.390 --> 00:22:33.690 on today. It goes right back to that Walmart 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:36.130 paradox we talked about earlier. It is the uncomfortable 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:38.589 part of the research. It is very easy to point 00:22:38.589 --> 00:22:41.559 a finger and say that company is evil. It feels 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:43.559 good. It puts the blame over there. It makes 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:45.720 us the righteous rebels in the Star Wars movie. 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:49.259 But if we collectively agree a corporation is 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:51.660 evil. If we tweet about it. Right, if we tweet 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:53.380 about it, if we nod along to the movies, if we 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:55.660 share the memes. But we continue to buy their 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:58.480 products because it saves us $5 or because it 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.400 arrives on our doorstep in two days. Then what? 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:02.819 Are we the helpless victims of the corporate 00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:06.579 plot? Or are we the eager shareholders actively 00:23:06.579 --> 00:23:09.359 keeping the villain in business? That is the 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.720 ultimate question. It really is something to 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.400 think about. Thanks for taking this deep dive 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:14.720 with us. We will see you next time.