Sometime in the future, if we are to succumb to the dreams of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, millions of earthlings will be expats, living among the stars, in the cosmos far from the planet on which all of us currently reside. How cool is that?!
Is Jeff's dream of off-world colonization at least partially due to the fact that we don't govern ourselves too well, that we're greedy and can't share, that we distrust and oppress the "other", that we degrade our natural environment, and that we create super-plutocrats while those who couldn't survive in the new "disrupted" global capitalist arena, sleep in tents by the side of the road?
Jeff who weighs in at 134 billion dollars is the richest person in the world. His net worth exceeds that of silver medalist Bill Gates by nearly 50%. Amazon started in 1994 by selling books online. Now it accounts for nearly 50% of all online sales in the United States. Using this position as the inescapable arbiter between seller and buyer enables Amazon to punish non-compliance and otherwise call the shots: Play by Amazon's rules — or don't play.
We have also recently learned that Amazon plans to leverage its data superiority in the social realm. The company intends to expand the scope of surveillance / social domination, albeit under a different banner, that of public safety. Amazon's new facial recognition software, Rekognition (sic), basically automates mass surveillance. One of Amazon's customers stated that their customers use the system to "detect, analyze, and index up to 100 faces (up from 15) in a single image" allowing them to "accurately capture demographics and analyze sentiments for all faces in group photos, crowded events, and public places such as airports and department stores." (Sentiments?!) The ACLU points out that "at a time when Americans are joining public protests at unprecedented levels" this technology would allow the government to intensify its focus on "communities already unjustly targeted" such as undocumented immigrants, Black Lives Matter activists, or even, critics of Amazon. [1]
Economically and technologically a bully, Amazon's activities also wreak havoc on the one planet where humans do live. Getting the broad picture of that is not so easy. Apple, Google, and Microsoft score A's on the CDP which tracks and reports on carbon emissions, while Amazon receives an F due to its refusal to share its information. Nevertheless, part of the story has been pieced together. A climate group (2.) estimates that In 2017 Amazon's shipping operations were responsible for 19.1 million metric tons of CO2, equivalent to nearly five coal-fired power plants while the exhaust from its diesel fleet raises the risk of cancer and asthma, especially in the low income communities that are closest to its routes.
While many of us are tired of Big Tech's digital determinism, their future porn and their unflagging solutionism, I suspect that with a few "reality interventions" and listening sessions (without distracting digital gadgets) they could rejoin the human race. In Seattle this could take the form of Amazon copping to its responsibility and support the so-called "head tax" on the wealthiest corporations in the city to help with the homelessness problem that their presence has exacerbated. Several weeks ago Seattle's city council under pressure from Amazon and other friends of big business, reversed themselves and repealed their previous, unanimous head-tax legislation.
Nobody of course likes paying taxes. But it's something one has to do. Most of the people who would self-identify as grown-ups would acknowledge that. Besides paying taxes as citizens are obliged to do, Jeff also needs to acknowledge some responsibility for his company's impact. It would be wonderful to hear him say, "This country allowed me get astronomically rich and I want to give back — to the city, the country, and the earth. This acknowledgement could provide billionaires (and even millionaires) with a positive vision about living a real life not some phony sci-fi, utopian bunker, island paradise, virtual reality stereoscopic television adolescent cartoon fantasy.
It's not only Jeff's fault but for heaven's sake, if he's half as smart as he thinks he is, he must realize the effects that Amazon has had on the economic situation in Seattle. Hmmm... instantly transplant 40,000 new Amazonians into the city... Wonder if that could have any side effects? While the median house in Seattle is now priced at $820,000 the number of unsheltered homeless people in Seattle has doubled in the last 10 years. Rental costs have jumped 47% since Amazon's arrival in 2010. Jeff and his minions shouldn't shoulder all the blame but a little honesty and self-reflection is not too much to ask of them.
Jeff, Seattle is calling:
Come home. Come back to earth. Live among the humans and other lifeforms on earth. We need you! Can you share a nickel? We need your money, yes, but we also need your commitment to the planet. There is more to living on the earth than being the world's biggest middle man. Is there a place for Earth and its inhabitants within your big big cosmic vision?
Clearly plutocrats should help pay back with actual dollars but the people and societies that helped them make their fortunes could also use their help in other ways. Although society's problems are not as amenable to tech and tech-think as, say, surveillance and automated red-lining, the brain power of the people working in that field, properly channeled earthwards and, hopefully, with their ego and testosterone dialed down a magnitude or two, could actually help.
Many of us have grown more than a bit distrustful of our new digital corporate masters and their minions. This is in part due to their high level of self-regard, their penchant for "gamification" over reality, their dedication to surveillance and manipulation, their worship of "convenience", and their seeming lack of social awareness and responsibility. But we can't ignore them. They won't go away quietly.
What is preventing this civic engagement for the common good? Lots of blame to go around, but in the meantime:
Earth to Jeff!? Do you copy? Jeff? Earth is calling. Are you there?
Jeff???
1. AMAZON: GET OUT OF THE SURVEILLANCE BUSINESS. https://www.aclu.org/post-to-social/amazon-stop-selling-surveillance. Accessed July 5, 2018.
2. Tell Bezos to stop delivering pollution. http://350seattle.org/amazon/. Accessed July 5, 2018.
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