Maximum Productivity

image created with help from LeonardoAI, writing is all from me.

Businesses seek to maximize profit. A dairy farm is a business venture whose owner seeks to maximize the output of 2 primary products: milk and beef. Over time the dairy farmers throughout the generations have learned the specific tactics to employ in order to maximize the yield per cost of each of their primary products. Perhaps they have learned that there is an optimum age at which to slaughter the cattle past which point they cannot produce more milk. Perhaps they have learned that space is overrated, and that crowding the cattle together will increase output per acre. Then, they discover that crowding the cattle together in their own excrement presents sanitation issues, and that it is cheaper to simply inject the cattle with antibiotics than to address the underlying issue (fecal exposure from overcrowding creates disease-ridden conditions). Maybe the farmer also notices that cattle with certain temperaments are more suitable for captivity, and so those cows get selected to create future generations. Then one day, the farmer figures out that they can artificially inseminate the cattle using a single bull, and it doesn't even need copulation to occur. Despite all of these optimizations, perhaps something is forgotten, and cow depression sets in, which can hurt milk output or quality, and so the cows get VR headsets to cheer them up. So, numbers are crunched, outputs maximized, parameters tweaked. This, is the underlying motive and behavior of the dairy farmer, and while not all of them will operate in this manner, the ones that do will outcompete the ones that do not. If only humans were cattle.

Businesses seek to maximize profit. A feudal manor is a business venture whose owner seeks to maximize the output of a variety of products (crops, mostly). Over time, the feudal lords throughout the generations have learned the specific tactics to employ in order to maximize the yield per cost of each of their primary products. Perhaps they have learned that there is an optimum age past which their serfs are no longer productive, so they allow them to only be able to afford the food that sustains their labor at the cost of long-term health. Perhaps they have learned that space is overrated, and the more serfs you can fit into a town or dwelling, the more space can be reserved for farming and the more farmers one can have. The serfs are crowded together in tight conditions, and periods of poor health and disease ensue, but Germ theory has yet to be discovered, so the disease is blamed on bad smells or impiety. Perhaps the serfs may try to increase their wealth or social standing by marrying in with a noble for the sake of romance, so the lord decides to control who marries who. Maybe the noble notices that some of the peasants are fiestier and harder to control than others, so the noble executes the ring-leaders and most aggressive of those involved in rebellions. The noble, could also employ a pre-emptive attack on any would be rebels, and deny their ability to produce future legitimate offspring by controlling who they marry. One day, the noble figures out that they can use memes to encourage the population to reproduce, and it is done with the help of a Church, who commands that those who marry reproduce or see their marriage annulled. Any sexual activity outside of marriage is strictly forbidden. Despite these optimizations, something is overlooked, and a bunch of the peasants become increasingly depressed. So, the noble again employs a meme provided to them by someone else, which tells the peasants that they will be rewarded in the next life for their poverty and toil in this life, and that their King was chosen by God. This might cheer them up sufficiently. Numbers get crunched, outputs maximized, parameters tweaked. This, is the underlying motive and behavior of the noble, and while not all of them will operate in this manner, the ones that do will outcompete the ones that do not. Good thing humans aren't cattle anymore.

Businesses seek to maximize profit. A corporation is a business venture whose owner seeks to maximize the output of whatever it is the produce. Over time, the business owners throughout the generations have learned the specific tactics to employ in order to maximize the yield per cost of each of their primary products. Perhaps they have learned that there is an optimum age past which their employees are no longer productive, but they also note that there may still be profit to be squeezed from them, so they establish private businesses to care for the elders, which will consume either from the savings that those once-workers have, or from the fruit of their loved ones. The owners learn that space is overrated, so they corner the housing market, and people must now resort to renting, or get piled into multi-story buildings. The dwelling and the workplace are separated by quite some distance, but another owner likes this, as it will force the worker into buying their transportation product in order to survive. The citizens are crowded into dense spaces, and disease, when it arises, can spread quickly. People come into contact with many more individuals than before, which increases their risk of contracting an illness, but antibiotics and antivirals, and vaccines are developed to keep this problem at bay. Maybe the business owner notices that employee morale boosts can improve productivity, so they allow for small gifts such as pizza parties or gift baskets to be distributed. Some figure out that they can fund psychological research and pay industrial psychologists to explain to them the secrets of psychological manipulation that will lead to the greatest productivity outcomes. If too many employees dare to increase their social standing and become business owners , the business owner lobbies the government for tighter regulations to raise the cost of entry for competitors and a myriad of other tricks. Maybe the business owner notices that some of the employees are a little fiestier than others and start advocating and organizing for better conditions. The business owner simply lobbies the government and launches media campaigns to decree these rebels using pejorative terms such as "communist." At first, the business owner assassinates the reputation or life of the ring-leaders, but then they learn that they can get government on their side to co-opt the movements and demoralize their participants. One day, the business owner figures out that people can be divided by physical characteristics such as skin tone, and decides to use this characteristic to create points of distraction. This method is coupled with a religious revival from specific denominations which strongly discourage any sexual behavior that does not result in the production of offspring. Control the memes, control the genes. Despite these optimizations, an increasing number of employees become depressed, so the business owner uses the meme of "self-reliance" and "individualism" to tell the depressed that they are the ones responsible for their depression. To mop up the ones who do not believe this, psycho-active drugs are provided to the employee to raise morale. Some employees still figure out what is going on, and can try and tell others, but their voices are few, and the majority of the employees gain their information from corporations. Distrust is sown in institutions, then this distrust is capitalized on by the corporation to pain itself as having the "true" information. Numbers get crunched, outputs maximized, parameters tweaked. This, is the underlying motive and behavior of the corporation, and while not all of them will operate in this manner, the ones that do will outcompete the ones that do not.