There’s a quiet chill running through this piece—like standing in front of a towering machine and realizing it runs exactly as designed.
What Karl Butler lays out isn’t a cartoon villain story. It’s colder than that. Methodical. Legal. Scalable. The story of how power compounds when efficiency is prized over empathy, and wealth scales faster than conscience can catch up.
Bezos here isn’t just a person—he’s a prism. A reflection of what happens when systems reward extraction over contribution, speed over stewardship. The $1.8 trillion isn’t just a number—it’s a measure of distance. Between what’s possible and what’s chosen.
And yet the piece doesn’t preach. It just places the pieces in front of us. What we do with them—that’s the real question.
I used to be an avid Amazon shopper, but after Jeff Bezos stepped down, customer service took a major hit. It seems like that shift is maybe moving back, but then there’s the ongoing issues with working conditions and treatment of employees. I respect his hustle and the success of the company, but how much money does one person really need?
Thanks for the overview, but the comments about Amazon’s “commitment to excellent customer service” are absurd – Amazon has the worst customer service on the planet. When I canceled my account a few years ago when we were living in Europe, they didn’t simply close my account, but they stole all of my digital books and audiobooks that I paid money for. When I tried to reclaim my purchases, they bounced me around among cheap gig workers in India, and no one could ever solve the problem.
Very well done!
Thank you Robert!
Interesting. Systems can be designed for many different things . .
They can indeed.
There’s a quiet chill running through this piece—like standing in front of a towering machine and realizing it runs exactly as designed.
What Karl Butler lays out isn’t a cartoon villain story. It’s colder than that. Methodical. Legal. Scalable. The story of how power compounds when efficiency is prized over empathy, and wealth scales faster than conscience can catch up.
Bezos here isn’t just a person—he’s a prism. A reflection of what happens when systems reward extraction over contribution, speed over stewardship. The $1.8 trillion isn’t just a number—it’s a measure of distance. Between what’s possible and what’s chosen.
And yet the piece doesn’t preach. It just places the pieces in front of us. What we do with them—that’s the real question.
Thank you ☺️
I used to be an avid Amazon shopper, but after Jeff Bezos stepped down, customer service took a major hit. It seems like that shift is maybe moving back, but then there’s the ongoing issues with working conditions and treatment of employees. I respect his hustle and the success of the company, but how much money does one person really need?
Thanks for the overview, but the comments about Amazon’s “commitment to excellent customer service” are absurd – Amazon has the worst customer service on the planet. When I canceled my account a few years ago when we were living in Europe, they didn’t simply close my account, but they stole all of my digital books and audiobooks that I paid money for. When I tried to reclaim my purchases, they bounced me around among cheap gig workers in India, and no one could ever solve the problem.
That’s a nightmare. How come you had to close your account though? I don’t live in America but have an Amazon.us account.