The End
Manifest destiny in
the modern era
Crushing the opposition
Empires all have some sort of end goal, something waiting for them beyond the horizon. Popular media portrays empires dreaming of worldwide control; countless fictional realities have been conjured with galactic empires oppressing their subjects.
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Absolute power – the end goal of Hollywood’s empires – is often painted as evil. I’m not bagging on the obstruction of modern media. I’ve already done that (see my previous post). There is substance here, as seen in the countless texts illustrating the negative effects of the United States’ pursuit of Manifest Destiny. The end goal of the U.S. was to control this part of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the country steamrolled on everything that stood in it’s way.
One of Hollywood's empires mercilessly crushing the dance scene
Sound familiar?
It’s only logical that modern empires avoid this look, especially with all of this negative connotation. Our contemporary empires, powerful countries and rich companies, are not announcing any part of their agenda to dominate the world or their market. I’d like to focus on the latter, since you can’t count how many nuclear weapons a company has pointed at the rest of the world.
And while no nukes are involved, some companies ‘steamrolling’ is going by unnoticed by the general public.
Manifesting the Corporate Destiny
So now the question is, what is the ‘Manifest destiny’ of companies? What is their end goal?
I’ve had the privilege to be enrolled in ICS 90, an introductory course to the Donald Bren school. The course is meant to give us advice, tips, and teach us how to succeed in UCI and Donald Bren by the means of faculty and guest speaker.
One of these guest speakers was David Perry.
He’s founded a variety of companies, has a networth of $380 million, and is currently CEO of a company that develops technology for media Influencers.
He’s even had his own TED Talk.
I’m not trying to flatter Perry, I’m trying to illustrate that this guy knows what he’s talking about.
David Perry, famous as successful video game developer, is seen with a trinket of one of his most successful games, Earthworm Jim
A student in the lecture hall had posed him a question concerning how do we know what career/company we should be going towards right now. No one can answer that question for certain, but Perry gave us insight on how we should aim ourselves by using the End Goal. The End Goal of a company, to paraphrase Mr. Perry, is what that company is supposed to achieve at the end of the day. What is it forecasting to accomplish in the furthest point of its future? What is it’s fate?
Cut me some slack and allow me to make this ‘stretch’: What are the Manifest Destinies of modern companies?
I think you can see the connection I’m trying to make.
To further understand the concept of this Corporate Manifest Destiny (or the End Goal), Perry offers some clear examples:
Netflix, we’re all familiar with, is an online video streaming service. For a monthly rate, users have access to a plethora of TV series, movies, documentaries, and all other sorts of video media. It’s End Goal would be to have every video in existence available in its streaming service. It sounds a bit far-fetched, but it’s true. Netflix will only stop expanding its rights on videos when there are no more videos to purchase the rights from.
Amazon is another one. The Amazon most of us know is an E-Commerce colossus. Its End Goal would be to have every product available on its e-commerce website.
The reason Perry tells us this is because companies who have the most venturous end goal, and are pursuing it in a focused, effective manner, are the successful companies we should be looking at. Small dreams don’t go very far. That’s just how it works.
I have no issue with Perry’s argument. But I think we should all be paying attention to the companies that are pursuing their Manifest Density with exceptional tenacity, because it can have a large effect on our daily lives.
Amazon's Manifest Destiny is quite scary. The steamrolling nature of empire painted by popular media is not directly visible to us like it is in the movies, but that does not mean there is no steamrolling; Amazon is destroying physical retail businesses.
finding hidden fates
So maybe Macy's will close down. Besides the unemployment of the thousands of Macy's employess, how does that directly effect you and me? We can all adjust and shop online, right?
Maybe so, but what people need to realise is that while the theatrics of empire may not exist in a corporate manifest destiny, the drive and therefore the effects are still present. Contemporary times cause us to look deeper for the drive before the effects begin to surround us.
Let's go back to Amazon. E-commerce collusus? Sure is. Yet what I did not know until recently is that it is huge in cloud computing.
Amazon is bigger then the next three cloud computing services combined.
They're providing cloud services to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Combined with their online retail services, Amazon is collecting vast swathes of information about you and me in order to better tailor advertisements and entice us with personalized products.
With companies like amazon gaining so much power and peering into our lives, privacy as we know it is disappearing. Target, for instance, sent ads for prenatal products via email to a woman before she knew she was pregnant. Overwhelming power over clients - over people – has never been good. Oppression is inevitable, which is why the government blocks titanic company mergers, such as AT&T and Warner Bros., to prevent them from achieving a monopoly in their businesses.
And because the effects are never as apparent to us as they have been historically (i.e. the British oppression of the Thirteen Colonies, Belgium's abuse of the Congo), corporate conglomerates like Amazon can sneak up on us as they achieve their wild End Goals.
Empire is ubiquitous – it exists where we see it, and in areas where it is hidden from immediate perception. As the great corporate machines chug towards Manifest Destiny, we must remain alert to their intentions and the effects of their goals.
MEMENTO MORI