- **Profession**: British science fiction and speculative fiction author. - **Notable Works**: _Accelerando_, _Halting State_, _Glasshouse_, _Laundry Files_ series. - **Themes & Interests**: - Intersection of technology, economics, and society. - The impact of corporations and institutions as autonomous, system-like entities. - Speculative scenarios of surveillance, AI, and systemic complexity. - **Views**: - Critiques corporate and bureaucratic systems as having quasi-alien logic that can overpower individual human morality. - Explores how technology and systemic incentives shape human behaviour, often in dystopian or satirical ways. ## **Aliens Among Us: Charles Stross on the Corporate Invasion** **Main Idea** - Stross frames [[Corporations]] as non-human entities with their own logic, goals, and power, which can operate independently of individual human [[Morality]]. - He suggests that our modern global system is structured to benefit these “alien” entities, giving them enormous [[Media]] reach, legal protections, and systemic advantages. - Individual humans are often either co-opted by these structures (e.g., CEOs, politicians) or crushed if they resist. **Key Concepts** - **Corporate Alienness**: Corporations operate with their own internal logic and survival imperatives, which can diverge from social or ethical norms. - **Systemic Power**: These entities can manipulate information and use legal mechanisms to protect their interests. - **Human Co-option**: Humans within the system may profit or survive by aligning with corporate logic, even if it conflicts with broader societal goals. **Connections to [[Systems Theory]]** - Stross’s view has resonance with **[[Niklas Luhmann]]’s systems theory**, which sees social systems (like corporations) as self-reproducing and operating according to internal codes. - The “alien” metaphor aligns with Luhmann’s idea that systems can appear opaque or autonomous from the perspective of individual participants, though humans remain embedded within them. **Implications** - Understanding corporations as structured, autonomous systems highlights why individual moral actions alone may be insufficient to counter systemic pressures. - The metaphor encourages reflection on systemic incentives, structural reform, and the ways humans interact with complex organizations. **Tags / Keywords** #CorporatePower #SystemsTheory #GlobalEconomy ![[stross.jpg]] `Concepts:` `Knowledge Base:`