The truths hurt.

“You may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

Over the years, I’ve collected and shared a diverse array of “random information” in my monthly newsletter with the aim of uncovering connections between these fragments of knowledge and understanding their relevance. This has helped me form a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of today’s world, particularly in the context of our present-day marketplace. I hope it has helped my readers, as well.

Now I don’t know about them, but the insights I’ve gained through this exploration of various truths has left me with a disheartening perspective, and it hurts me to feel this way and to write about it. Nevertheless, here are a few recent contributions to this ongoing process, along with my commentary, which may help frame my present sentiments and position:

• From 1978–2022, top CEO compensation shot up 1,209.2% compared with a 15.3% increase in a typical worker’s compensation. The richest 1% now own almost half of the world’s wealth, while the poorest half own just 0.75%. (Yeah, that will do wonders to help create a more compassionate and peaceful world.) ??
• In 2022, the Detroit casino industry generated $2.27 billion in gaming revenue and is on track for another record-breaking year in 2023. (This in a city with historically high poverty and crime rates.)
• Disney is making ESPN earn its keep by going all-in on sports gambling. In Bob Iger’s bottom-line push, the sports news network surrenders to the gambling trend. (This from a “family-oriented” organization.)
• Autopaying credit card bills winds up costing us more. It leads to a tendency to make minimum payments, which means interest piles up. (But credit card companies keep pushing the hell out of it, with many reporting record revenues and profits.)
• Ozempic, a drug used to treat diabetes, keeps gaining attention as celebrities, a tech mogul and TikTok influencers have described taking it to lose weight in short time frames. (That makes sense. Let’s shoot up weekly to reverse the effects of what other companies are influencing us to do daily.)
• Five Caribbean states have sold citizenship to 88,000 individuals from countries including Iran, Russia and China. (And that’s at around $100,000 per “golden passport,” regardless of whether the “citizens” have ever stepped foot in those states.)
• According to Netflix, “We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love.” (If you’re a longtime professional sports fan, the implications of this approach should be readily apparent. And that way of perceiving and interacting, also known as using each other, is rapidly becoming the organizational norm in the U.S.)
• McDonald’s and Wendy’s were sued for deceiving customers by showing bigger, juicier burgers in their advertising than their restaurants actually serve. A federal judge dismissed the claims, essentially saying that a reasonable person should know bullshit when they see it. (Bullshit is also becoming the norm today, and so it’s difficult to distinguish.)
• Speaking of bullshit, global audit firm PwC is now partnering with ChatGPT owner OpenAI to offer artificial intelligence-generated consulting to clients as a cost-cutting strategy that it also believes will boost productivity. (Of course it will, because it will use AI to recommend replacing people with AI. Duh?)

I could go on and on (this morning I read that executives at Infosys and Ola think 15-hour work days are perfectly reasonable for young employees), but for the sake of my own precarious mental health, I won’t. And so what’s my conclusion? It’s actually pretty simple:

Your well-being is not the marketplace’s primary concern. Rather, it's the insatiable desire for your ever-increasing attention, transactions and money.

Do the companies you know and buy from use their data to inform you that you may be using, consuming or spending too much? Too much time watching Netflix or scrolling through TikTok? Too much money on sports gambling or on high interest rate credit card payments? Too many unhealthy food and substance purchases? Too much unconscious consumption, in general, which depletes natural resources, creates massive amount of waste and pollution, and contributes to the loss of biodiversity and threatens the wellbeing and life of many species (including ourselves and our children)?

It really doesn’t matter what product or service category you can think of, you will rarely, if ever, hear from anyone telling you that you should probably scale back, or at the very least be more conscious of your choice and use of their products and services (opioids, anyone?). And why not? Because we live in an anxious, self-concerned and largely unconscious world of I, me, mine and more, more, more.

Out of necessity, we have entered into a social contract with each other, and whether it’s our neighbors, businesses or governments, it only works if we are free to choose and we trust one another at the same time. And that trust extends beyond features, benefits, quality, safety and performance to heartfelt intentions. Are we interested, first and foremost, in the wellbeing and dignity of each other, and of all life in our beautiful world? Unfortunately, an abundance of truths suggests otherwise.

I’m well aware that most companies don’t possess the personalized data required to keep people informed (yet), and that the world, as I see it, is a limited construct formed by my nervous system—my particular perceptions, memories, and knowledge. So perhaps I haven’t thought it all over and taken complete possession of my knowledge. I’ll leave it to you to let me know.

And as far as proposing caveat emptor or conscious consumerism as the solution: please don’t be na?ve.