warmsecondrinse
Well-known member
This brings to mind a book I read in the 70's. It's nominally a sci-fi guy-meets-girl, but really more a social commentary. A HS senior from mid-1970's gets thrown 100 or so years into the future. His arrival accidentally thwarts an attempt to kidnap girl. Girl's daddy runs Syncom, the largest company in the world. Kidnapping was orchestrated by TranSystem, the second largest company. Adventures ensue, taking all over the planet.
Real story is the guy's observations of society and the 'recent' history he pulls out of the girl: Starting in the late 20th century, demands on governments (worldwide) slowly began to outstrip their resources to meet them. Businesses slowly start filling in the gap. By the mid-21st century most international problem/conflicts/crises are solved by corporations with investments in the conflict area renegotiating their arrangements, thereby defusing the conflict. By the time of the story, countries' governments are more figureheads than anything else.
How/why did nobody object? Corporations made sure that each time they acted, that when they were done just enough of the bottom strata of the population in question was just enough better off that they went along with it.
No matter what a person's socio-economic status, his life was always just that tiniest bit better than his parents' that he didn't rock the boat. It was total bread & circuses (fed by media, of course) coupled with just enough real quality of life improvement that nobody rebelled. Meanwhile, everything one bought for his house was made by the same big company. Perceived differences among brands was 99% just that: perception.
It amazes me how much of it has come true. I'd like to re-read the book, but I can't remember either the title or the author :-(
Real story is the guy's observations of society and the 'recent' history he pulls out of the girl: Starting in the late 20th century, demands on governments (worldwide) slowly began to outstrip their resources to meet them. Businesses slowly start filling in the gap. By the mid-21st century most international problem/conflicts/crises are solved by corporations with investments in the conflict area renegotiating their arrangements, thereby defusing the conflict. By the time of the story, countries' governments are more figureheads than anything else.
How/why did nobody object? Corporations made sure that each time they acted, that when they were done just enough of the bottom strata of the population in question was just enough better off that they went along with it.
No matter what a person's socio-economic status, his life was always just that tiniest bit better than his parents' that he didn't rock the boat. It was total bread & circuses (fed by media, of course) coupled with just enough real quality of life improvement that nobody rebelled. Meanwhile, everything one bought for his house was made by the same big company. Perceived differences among brands was 99% just that: perception.
It amazes me how much of it has come true. I'd like to re-read the book, but I can't remember either the title or the author :-(
