Google is on the Wrong Side of History
www.eff.org
Google continues to show us why it chose to abandon its old motto of “Don’t Be Evil,” as it becomes more and more enmeshed with the military-industrial complex. Most recently, Google has removed four key points from its AI principles. Specifically, it previously read that the company would not...
  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    162·
    9 days ago

    Literally every publicly owned corporation that is at the mercy of shareholders is on the wrong side of history.

    As this shit gets normalized, watch all of them fall in line.

    Apple is already back advertising on X.

    Corporations only care about money, and they will change their values to match what makes money.

    They never accepted women, blacks, latinos, LGBTQ+, and the disabled into their ranks because they thought those people were humans who had intrinsic value just for existing.

    No, they accepted them because they knew they were leaving money on the table. They could market shaving to women to increase razor blade sales, because now women employees would have money to spend. They could market hair care products to the black community because now their black employees would have money to spend.

    It was always about expanding markets and finding more people to sell shit to. Once that stops being profitable in the USA, treating those people like humans will stop. Watch it happen with the disabled and LGBTQ+ first.

    It was never just Rainbow Capitalism, because this shit literally goes all the way back to Women’s Suffrage and the Civil Rights eras. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    • holdstrong@lemm.eeEnglish
      36·
      9 days ago

      Corporations just reflect the values of their owners. There are companies that emphasize things other than revenue, but as soon as a company goes public and becomes controlled by Wall Street, profit becomes their sole motivation

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22·
        9 days ago

        This is why the stock market was, fundamentally, a trojan horse. It was created so capitalism could intertwine the peoples wealth and retirement funds to the success of the wealth of the oligarchy, making the entire market too big to fail.

        Now the entire system is designed to prevent damage to companies, no matter how moral, unethical, or criminal. The success of corporations IS treated as equal to “national security”.

        • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          3·
          9 days ago

          In the end, the stock market is a natural logical progression from the starts of capitalism, and the situation we are in today is again closer to capitalism logical conclusion

          From capitalism’s basic principles, profit above literally everything was always bound to happen. Just how evolution happens through natural selection. It’s a similar process. Because ultimately capitalism is an economic system built on competition, not cooperation.

      • Vinstaal0@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 days ago

        Yup, but most people have savings or some kind of pension, both are often put into the stock market by the bank or pension fund to give us the interest we want.

        We need to try and exercise more of our power as stakeholder in these companies, in the end we still have the power to not use products from these massive corporations. Stop order from shit like Amazon, but go and order from smaller stores, switch search engine and browser, etc.

        • pogmommy@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          3·
          9 days ago

          Man too bad all I’ve got to eat is this cyanide. Those cookies over there? Don’t you know how unhealthy those are?

          • ZiemekZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            8 days ago

            Socialism is cyanide and capitalism is cookies. The former will kill you instantly, the second one long-term (diabetes etc.) – what we’re looking for is fruit and vegetables, but for now I’m more than glad to eat some cookies.

            • Metju@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              7 days ago

              Frankly, the problem with socialism (and with anything else, for that matter) is that it takes one high-up enough asshole to ruin things for everyone.

              Then again, I have little-to-no proposals to counter your argument, so I guess it’s back to cookies and diabetes for us

    • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      They could market shaving to women to increase razor blade sales, because now women employees would have money to spend.

      That makes zero sense. Paying people so they can spend a tiny fraction of it back to your company? Why not just keep the money in the first place?

      No, they hire them because they’ve run the math and realized it costs less to hire them than that it costs them in sales due to public perception.

      • meyotch@slrpnk.netEnglish
        6·
        9 days ago

        You might need to pause and think a bit more. Corporations are competing for money. There isn’t just one big pile of money somewhere.

  • El_guapazo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    57·
    9 days ago

    It’s a capitalist corporation that sold its soul to the highest bidder. Of course it’s evil. It’s based on greed and exploitation.

    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      9 days ago

      Billionaire bad?? How could this be!!? I was told whenever two parties entered into a voluntary agreement it meant both of them mutually improved their situation and that if you got billions out of it, it meant by definition that you did a lot of good!

      • MangoCats@feddit.itEnglish
        10·
        9 days ago

        Here’s a gun to your head, now, it would be beneficial to you to hand over your wallet m’kay?

        No bullet in your brain, more cash in my hand, both parties benefit! See how that works?

        Oh, you have a lump growing in your thyroid, mmmm… that is bad. We can cut that out for you and most people we do that to live a lot longer, but first we need you to mortgage your home and give us the proceeds. See how that works?

        • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          7 days ago

          Gun to the head is exactly why the word “voluntary” is specified

          But yes, you could eventually say “I did not consent to be born please arrest my mom”

          In that case, you can also solve your examole choice by gun grabbing ans shooting the guy if he lets you take it.

          • MangoCats@feddit.itEnglish
            1·
            7 days ago

            you can also solve your examole choice by gun grabbing ans shooting the guy if he lets you take it.

            Ah, but that wouldn’t be mutually beneficial, would it?

            Also, this didn’t take long:

            Some federal employees who accepted Trump’s buyout offer are now being notified that their buyout has been denied, and they are being terminated instead.

    • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      18·
      9 days ago

      ☞ We knew this as soon as they got the “Don’t be evil” slogan

      if you need to remind yourself not to be evil, that’s already a bad start.

    • Fungah@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      8 days ago

      You’re not from America are you?

      I ask this because you seem to actually grasp what’s happening.

    • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      Fuck what they stand for and implemented. The technologies developed are useful but the maliciousness of it ruins everything. So fuck that part of them.

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    9 days ago

    But they’re always right, just look at Google glass, Google plus, and Stadia… Or google buzz, google health, and igoogle.

    Yep, Google never gets it wrong.

  • Cyborganism@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    That’s why I just upgraded my subscription to Proton. (YES I KNOW ABOUT ALL THE DRAMA WITH THEIR CEO!!! AT LEAST THEY’RE NOT SELLING AI SERVICES TO MILITARY CONTRACTORS, DOING MASS SURVEILLANCE OR SELLING MY FUCKING DATA!)