David Simpson's Blog, page 10

Businesses are like viruses

That isn't to say that all businesses are bad things.
There are striking similarities however between businesses and viruses that make the analogy more than sound.
Viruses, like the businesses of our past and present, have only one goal: growth.If we were to judge a virus to be successful based on the same criteria that we use to judge the success of a business, then a virus such as ebola would be considered very successful. It replicates quickly and efficiently saturates its host. It reaches the pinnacle of "success" right before the host dies, taking the virus with it.
An interesting fact about viruses is they don't have nuclei. Like the Tin man in The Wizard of Oz, they don't have brains. That's why they can't make decisions that would take things like self-preservation into account.But we can, can't we?
You wouldn't think so from looking at the business of fossil fuels. Sure it's growing. It's great to be a part of if you want to make a lot of cash! It's even better if you want to make like a virus and leave your brain at the door.And while there may indeed be thousands of brilliant people working for the fossil fuel industry, there isn't one singularly intelligent person in charge. It's like a freight train careening down a track with no driver.
People who try to stand in front of it get crushed in the corporate owned media. Pulverized on Right Wing radio. Liquified.
Each individual who participates in the fossil fuel industry is like a little virus cell. There is nothing it can do to steer the collective onto a better path. There is only one direction: growth. So we need a cure.Recently, a man in Berlin who was infected with HIV received a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that essentially made him immune to HIV. The transplanted cells "regrew" the immune system that had been virtually destroyed by chemotherapy and the new immune system resisted HIV infection. The new system was untouchable and the virus was eradicated.
I view my generation as being like these new stem cells. We must be untouchable. We have to resist the virus. Growth cannot be our only, incessant drive. We have to have brains and we have to preserve our host.
There is no more time to wait. Our species simply will not survive to the end of this century, a century in which a lethal 6.6 degree increase in temperatures is predicted by our accredited scientific community.
A business plan that kills all of the customers, not to mention the business people themselves, is not a good business plan.
If we only had a brain.

Post-Human sequel cover art.

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Chapter 2

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