They basically want more data points on people to sell to advertisers.

It’s big tech. That’s how big tech works.

While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.

Isn’t that how we’re doing the death penalty anyway? We’re trying to find a “painless” way to kill someone, but is there ever really a painless way to do this? I’d imagine even if I’m sitting in a massage chair with classical music playing it wouldn’t matter if I knew that half an hour from now I wouldn’t be leaving the room.

And we can’t really ask doctors because doctors have taken an oath to “do no harm.”

The death penalty is just a punishment no one wants to do (well, okay, I’m sure there are plenty of people that have no problem with it), but we’ve told ourselves that we have to do it.

Exactly.

“I’m ready to start Monday. Just need to restart my health insurance with–”

“Oh, we already chose that for you.”

“Um…okay…well, at least I can go back to my gym on Tues–”

“No worries, through our wellness plan we’ve already selected a gym for you. We even pre-signed you up to a spin class.”

“I’m more of a bench-press person any–”

“We’ve started your retirement account, too.”

“Um…thanks?”

I had a hero of a physics professor who figured out that new editions of textbooks just mixed up the number of the exercises, so he advised students that they could just order previous versions of the textbooks and he’d provide the “key” for how the questions were shuffled.

Toilets.

I just use your neighbor’s garden and blame it on my cat.

Probably gonna anger both sides here, but I see both private insurance and single-payer healthcare as equally-evil scams. Why not focus on driving down costs of healthcare (i.e. EVERYTHING) so that you throw a couple bucks at the receptionist to cover your surgery then check to see if you have enough for a post-surgery soda?

Yup, BandCamp all the way. Once you buy a song you own it, you can play it anywhere you darn well please. Even if BandCamp goes under, no worries, still got my music.

Same with DVDs. Yeah, I’ve definitely gotten movies I regret purchasing, but I think long-term it’s more economical.

Workplace benefits.

Really? What’s the benefit? You’re taking money out of my paycheck to restrict my choices?

And aren’t you a business anyway–you know, an organization whose purpose is to MAKE MONEY, not coddle people.

News headline, October 2078

Google finds users are covering their ears and closing their eyes; releases nanobots to force eyes open and lock hands behind back.

Why do you think they do this?

With inflation happening across the economy, businesses have been dealing with rising costs for years. At the same time, there’s a lot of pressure to keep prices low for increasingly price-conscious customers.

Yup, pretty much.

A business is there to make money. Obviously, businesses that pay employees better have lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction. But what do you do if the price of keeping the lights on goes up? You can either increase prices, which will see fewer customers, but keep in mind that customers will just go to a coffee shop that’s cheaper. So the better option is to keep the prices the same and lower employee wages.

Business are feeling the pressure of our failing economy. Are some being jerks about it? You bet. I even worked for some. But I believe in a truly wealth-equal economy people are so well off jerk employers are just ignored.

But most people currently don’t have that choice. Quit an employer and you have a 50/50 chance of getting a job within a few weeks or ending up on the streets.

But I believe we can get to a more sustainable economy. It might take a lot of effort, but I believe we can get there!

What is the actual problem that’s not mentioned?

I wear a kilt. It really is more comfortable than pants.

I actually remember seeing a blog post, too, showing a fashion line of skirts for men. Not for cross dressers either (but no judgement if that’s you). It was marketed as a style that still made the men appear masculine. I forget the brand name, but I was intrigued.

Interesting point.

They state very plainly that they sell your data to advertisers.

I post there weekly (often blog articles I publish to provide value for people), I have thousands of connections (a lot of CEOs) over the past 7 years I’ve been on there and I have yet to make a connection that ends in even meager work. The paranoid of me thinks that it’s keeping me in a bubble because it’s cheaper to keep me in need.