I figured someone would say that, and it is a hypothesis worth considering, but I think it needs justification. Corporations are composed of humans, but they don’t look like humans, or eat the things humans eat, or espouse human religions. Corporations are especially human-like in their values, and that needs explaining. The goals of a corporation don’t overlap with the values of its employees. Values and goals are highly intertwined. I would not expect a corporation to acquire values from its employees without also acquiring their goals; and they don’t acquire their employees’ goals. They acquire goals that are analogous to human goals; but eg IBM does not have the goal “help Frieda find a husband” or “give Joe more money”.
The corporation wants the corporation to have more money, and Joe wants Joe to have more money. Those are the same goals internally, but because the corporation’s goal says “ACME Corporation” where Joe’s says “Joe”, it means the corporation didn’t acquire Joe’s goals via lateral transfer.
Normally, the corporation wants more money—because it was built by humans—who themselves want more money. They build the corporation to want to make money itself—and then want to pay them a wage—or dividends.
If the humans involved originally wanted cheese, the corporation would want cheese too. I think by considering this sort of thought experiment, it is possible to see that the human goals do get transferred across.
I figured someone would say that, and it is a hypothesis worth considering, but I think it needs justification. Corporations are composed of humans, but they don’t look like humans, or eat the things humans eat, or espouse human religions. Corporations are especially human-like in their values, and that needs explaining. The goals of a corporation don’t overlap with the values of its employees. Values and goals are highly intertwined. I would not expect a corporation to acquire values from its employees without also acquiring their goals; and they don’t acquire their employees’ goals. They acquire goals that are analogous to human goals; but eg IBM does not have the goal “help Frieda find a husband” or “give Joe more money”.
Both humans and corporations want more money. Their goals at least overlap.
The corporation wants the corporation to have more money, and Joe wants Joe to have more money. Those are the same goals internally, but because the corporation’s goal says “ACME Corporation” where Joe’s says “Joe”, it means the corporation didn’t acquire Joe’s goals via lateral transfer.
Normally, the corporation wants more money—because it was built by humans—who themselves want more money. They build the corporation to want to make money itself—and then want to pay them a wage—or dividends.
If the humans involved originally wanted cheese, the corporation would want cheese too. I think by considering this sort of thought experiment, it is possible to see that the human goals do get transferred across.