>>5899The point isn't that people have never been manipulative but that today putting on a facade in public and using it to control and manipulate others is now the bedrock of our moral norms. Manipulative behavior is nothing new, what is new is the idea that this is a good thing and that its socially beneficial. Its entrepreneurial thinking applied to everyday life.
>>5898Why would someone respond like that? "Get a grip" its dismissive, cruel. If social relationships now follow business like rules, then its every person's own responsibility steal a friend just as its the responsibility of every business to turn a profit or die. If you don't like this cutthroat culture, well that's just how reality is and you should "get a grip." Since everyone relationship is now like a corporate contract, people don't owe you anything beyond the terms of agreement. So we're told we shouldn't be upset or even care if people really like us anymore then Sam Altman worries if Jensen Huang really likes him, all that matters is getting your end of the deal.
I remember someone telling me that the reason people don't date as much now is because it "isn't worth the risk" because they are "high risk, low reward." You'd think he's some investor, calculating the odds. Life reduced to financial speculation. This is a great example of how life has become business, intimacy has become a product, and individuals are now stock traders treating their most intimate relationships into trade negotiations. Its no wonder that this society has led to people feeling despair, worrying that they are worthless, that people are disingenuous etc.
