Comic Strips

I really liked the movie Daybreakers. Not as a film, but as a concept. The idea of infinite growth from the perspective of a vampire class on the verge of starvation within a decade was an interesting concept

Actually if that also make people be healthier it'll be better for the state to distribute it to everyone instead of paying for healthcare (except in the US of course 🙃)

There was a 2011 sci fi movie kinda about that. The movie wasn't that good but it had some interesting ideas:

In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, when a one-year countdown on their forearm begins. When it reaches zero, the person "times out" and dies instantly. Time has thus become the universal fiat currency, transferred directly between people or stored on flashdrive type devices, some in secure bank vaults. Distinct socioeconomic caste "Time Zones" exist; Dayton is the poorest, a manufacturing hub and "ghetto" where people rarely have over 24 hours on their clocks, whereas in New Greenwich, the affluent Zone of plutocrats, people have enough time to be essentially immortal. ... the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time, while constantly increasing prices to impoverish people in less prosperous districts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time

Lyfe Common, and Lyfe Premium.

Historically, what the oligarch does is take a percentage of the wealth and spread it out among just enough people to protect them from the rest.

What works is damage repair. Repair the cells. Replenish stem cells (and a handful of other things). It already works in mice so it's not technically impossible.

The way people cope with their silly little mortality is by holding on tight to the inevitability. Take that away and they panic, so they can't think clearly about it.

Exactly, even if every member of the board recognized their individual interest to pivot the company's focus to green energy, they would still be replaced over time by those willing to sacrifice everything for short to mid term gains, since that's what the shareholders are incentivized to demand

The idea that “public companies only exist to maximize value for the shareholders” is toxic af, and only introduced because some famous economist made it popular [source needed, I have some vague recollection but I’m talking out of my ass]. Once it became the de facto law of capitalism, “investors” stopped allowing decisions that didn’t benefit their bottom line, and could sue to ensure decisions that they disagree with (especially if they cost more than they earn)

If we took away the “legal obligation to the shareholders”, which is an ultra-simplistic optimization that often results in “greedy algorithm” decision making for next quarters earnings, and made the obligation to 50% employees and 50% shareholders, along with better ongoing taxation of negative externalities, being on the board would be a real job instead of a few hours a week position in some cases. You’d have to negotiate big picture things, handle employee concerns seriously, while still being pushed to generate revenue by the shareholders.

Capitalism would probably still work, mostly. I think if leadership weren’t driven by “shareholder value”, adding plans to mitigate externalities that aren’t required by law would be easier. Currently, I don’t think any company builds a coal power plant with smoke or co2 capture that isn’t required to by law.

Stock markets would still be able to pick and choose investments, but if a company chose a 10 year plan that loses money the first year, they couldn’t be sued for replacement so long as the employees and one board member agreed on it.

Idk. It’s a poorly thought out fantasy of mine to fix how corporations work. I’m sure I’m missing something other than big piles of money that would never let it happen. There are a lot of other systemic legal and structural problems we’d need to fix, but reallocating boards to be 50% voting employee representatives would be a starting point.