What would happen if Alexander the Great was born today? If he had all the privilege, network, and tactical brilliance, but had to live in the modern world? There are no new lands to conquer which are unknown to western society, no wild west, no new places on earth besides perhaps the deep ocean – we’ve been to space and mapped the whole thing, though there might be small hidden pockets which exist.
I would propose that he would be a lot like Jeff Bezos. That he would try to dominate a market and use his strategic gifts to build a large corporate empire. In place of direct warfare he would engage in economic expansion. Arguably, I’d say that’s how Capitalism has become a dominant power in the world: by turning its sociopathic strategic geniuses towards economic interests and market domination so they don’t fight and kill each other. So they can take over markets instead of governments. Imagine if Steve Jobs had tried to conquer a city in the US or take over a state. It would have been ridiculous. He have been absolutely demolished by the US military. But it’s not hard to imagine Apple becoming the dominant employer in a small town by opening a factory, and being able to heavily influence its politics.
Capitalism is an alternative to warring factions killing each other directly. To move from actual battle to corporate strategy and legal property entitlements. I’d much rather be fired or declare bankruptcy than be dead or enslaved (though you could argue there is a lot of corporate slavery today). Honestly, the closest move towards actual conquering is probably Trump and Jan 6th, and while it was terrifying, it was nowhere near Hitler conquering most of Europe over several years in the 1940s. Direct warfare and conquest in a WWIII scenario means nukes, and then nobody wins anything.
The purest form of competition is warfare – to destroy the enemy. The purest form of Capitalism is slavery – to own everything needed for production, where the workers are literal capital with inputs and outputs like any other machine. Imagine during the US Civil war if you were a rich slaveholder, and someone tried to free your slaves and said they were no longer yours to control. You would see it as theft – someone is trying to come in and steal your property from you. A modern version of a company CEO or shareholder would be someone taking your customers or workers from you – you might fight back, but you hopefully won’t go to war over it.
So much of corporate America is about conquering new markets (‘growth’) – often optimistically described as creating new markets (‘innovation’), but quite often taking from existing competitors. There also exists a lot of corporate defense – defending existing wealth – through laws, banks, police – with the goal of preserving what’s already been conquered. In many ways this is indirect warfare, where the main casualty is the environment as well as poorer people and nations.
The western world has such a long history of colonization and conquest. Of venture funding and execution. From Christopher Columbus getting funding from the crown to explore new lands across the sea to the California gold rush to the latest tech boom getting VC funding for economic growth into virtual land (ie the mobile internet). Smartphones have been the latest platform of a virtual land grab for market share – with many unicorns being created for their potential to dominate consumer attention, the current frontier. Venture capitalists are always looking for the next big thing. The next land grab. Eventually all the land gets taken and there is no where else to go. The lake gets overfished until they are all gone. Facebook and Netflix and many other tech companies are literally running out of people to sell to, causing their stocks to drop. So where do they go?
The richest of the rich are trying to create and conquer new lands: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are going to space, Mark Zuckerberg wants to own the Metaverse/VR, Jack Dorsey wants bitcoin to become a big thing. Maybe they’re right and they’ll become huge new empires. At least they (hopefully), won’t be killing people in their homes and taking their land as their own. But they are often pulling at consumer attention and behavior. They may not enslave directly, but Mark Zuckerberg wants people scrolling their lives away to stay engaged with the product to lift those metrics. Ultimately this whole time, the focus was on controlling other people, controlling their actions and behavior (tech companies always eventually have to monetize and serve their shareholders). It may be less harsh than killing and taking land in foreign countries for control, but it’s still on the spectrum of conquest and colonization for control and legacy.
Perhaps one root of this western tribalism warfare and colonization mindset started with the move to agriculture. From hunter gatherers to staying put on a piece of land. It results in ownership of land. If I don’t own property, I just move on like the ebb and flow of the ocean. If I own property, I must stay to defend it. I can literally legally kill someone if they try to take it from me, and most people will agree that I was right. It creates the idea of scarcity and theft instead of pain and hurt. It creates the motivation to respond, often violently. And now it’s gotten so competitive that the land is for the most part, all taken by recognized governing nations. So venture Capitalists, who have trained this muscle over millenia, seek new lands (virtual or outer space, to our very attention span). They don’t want to change their goals, they still want to conquer and take and take and conquer ad infinitum. And they think it’s good too, that it creates jobs, broadens the pie, betters lives, etc. That it makes us strong, and able to defend against other would-be conquerers. I think the biggest fear of a colonizer is to themselves be colonized. To lose what they have gained in the same way they took it.
So what can I do? Hell, I work in tech. I see how ultimately decisions come down to profit, and the main defense against short term profit decisions (eg just raising prices) is longer term profit (ie through consumer trust, retention). There is not necessarily one thing to do or one action to take, but it is something to be continuously aware of. To see it in my choices and decisions. It’s similar to knowing that one day we will all die. It doesn’t mean I should go do a bunch of drugs and tell everyone it’s all meaningless. It just means ‘don’t get too lost in the game’ or lose perspective of what really matters.
The opposite of property ownership is not giving everything away, though that can be a consequence of recognizing and honoring that muscle. It’s self expression and humanity. It’s art. It’s empathy, and kindness, and boardgames, and teaching, and dancing. It’s life itself – everything besides seeking to feed the ego that wants to take power. It’s choosing to leave work on time even if not everything is done, to not yell at a coworker over a mistake. It’s honesty and transparency. It’s meditating to take your attention and impulses back. It’s taking care of your body and mind. It’s community theatre. It’s a farmers market. It’s nourishing the parts of society that aren’t just domination and control. It’s when a coworker is struggling mentally to check in on them and recognize the human in them, not see them as competition or someone to win a promo over due to scarcity. It’s to recognize the human in us and fighting for the rights of others. It’s empathy and curiosity. It’s asking ‘why’ when we make a big choice. It’s expressing your needs directly. Not needing to make a legacy yourself or to own more than you need. It’s admitting when you’re feeling insecure and weak and fearful. It’s opening up to seek comfort with others and comfort others, not indirectly give and take from them.
I think a lot of colonization stems from fear of legacy, ego, seeking power over death. It is difficult to accept that the titles, the glory, the achievements, ultimately fade away. So to be anti-colonist is to accept your own mortality, that all is impermanent, and recognize the humanity in others and nourish it in all actions.
Daeus Jorento 