The launch, development, and evolution of a modern video game rivals the life cycle of a biological organism. Chillingly, electronic finality or death is ultimately determined by the consumer and while the technological firm pulls the plug on updated support efforts and error patches, the shell of the product is left in a vacuous state of suspended animation and vulnerable to the dissection of curious hackers. Meanwhile, the corporation responsible for hours and light years wasted in staring into a screen and netting billions of dollars facilitates a string of massive layoffs, effectively merging technology and hypocrisy into the singular powerful concept of “techoprisy”.
Activism, one of the gaming giants in this quaint quadrant of the galaxy, encapsulates the contemporary horrific business model of the digital age, as the entire industry buckles down and yields to the Druid cult soothsayer tendencies of the financial bean counters in underwhelming anticipation of Moore’s Law coming into fruition. After an unprecedented lucrative profit earnings year in 2018, even for a niche market of the software empire, preliminary indications point to a downward fiscal trend over the coming months and the company, reports the Verge, is responding to the predictions by slashing jobs. The low ball reaction earns a solid ranking in the Top-10 dubious acts of techoprisy, joining the likes of Google, F***book, post-blackface Ted Danson, Bitcoin, and Tesla in compiling a scintillating list validating the fears of Chicken Little that the sky is indeed falling on this version of society. People (Techies), tend to forget that there is no reset button in life, and second chances are only manifested in the rare occurrences of miracles, bestowed upon the world by God, a dangerous concept to the majority of the Silicon Valley army.
The announcement by Activism is not only shocking, but quite telling as to what is to be expected over the next decade as the the makeup of the software employment snapshot. The outlook is anything but rosy, as artificial intelligence programs diminish the need for an open head count and logically the digital titans will continue to trim workplace divisions and jobs in marginalizing profits and optimizing and efficient and sleek model of commerce. For the entire job market, this means that an influx of highly specialized technological professionals, possessing little to no real world experience or skills, will be competing directly with the middle class in scrambling for employment. The irony is that efforts by the tech industry to flood the marketplace with smart technology and automated system is only leading to the demise of its own, as the cannibalism is painful to witness.
In the case of Activism and the aforementioned example of a video game rivaling a lifeform, many of workers expected to be canned, slaved night and day as active participants in the games perpetually evolving with massive amounts of data being processed. The high stakes and cutthroat nature of the industry has no room for the visceral or nuance. It will be interesting to see how these individuals adjust to reality once the their secondary existence is terminated and a lifestyle that is not conducive to healthy human interaction.
Unjustly arrogant, socially awkward and politically handicapped, the deck of cards that is the top ten percent of wage earners is about implode upon itself in a fiery maelstrom wreaking havoc on the economy and the entire infrastructure of the free world. Feel the “Bern” and cue the horror music.
Instead of a gnarly band of soulless zombies, numbering in the hundreds of thousands on a nationwide tour thirsting for blood and craving a deep fried medulla oblongatas, a herd of geeks and unemployed software engineers will ransack the countryside gaming on smartphones and incessantly debating how race car driving is not a true sport by being modeled in a software environment… And in true nails on the chalkboard fashion, they will still discuss coding team dynamics like it is the most compelling subject in the universe (visit a bar near the Microsoft campus and two or three beers in, the conversation does not revolve around sex, politics and sports, but intraoffice technocentric gossip). In the land of the Unicorn there exists no tolerance for brawn, utility, forthright, or mechanized.
The end is nearing for palatable reality, and do not go gentle into that good night.
Read the Verge article here.