Practicum: An Ethical Megacorp
Greetings and spermatogenesis! …You know, I’ve heard men, enbies, and women can do that, and good on them! As some of you, my dear readers, might remember, I have gone through megacorps, and I have done a practicum on my Tshutsi species. What a wonderful Swiss version! And Anne and I have done ads for the Tshutsi Cogni-Chip Manufacturing Company (TCCMC) in an earlier post as well. Anyway, today I figured we could do a practicum on TCCMC, like my post on Ethical Circuses and Ethical Animal Sports, because what isn’t fun but to take what can be/often is negative and make it positive?
The good and bad of megacorps
(Anne:) Before we can really talk about what Vivian and I like and hate about megacorps, let’s review some definitions presented in the blogpost on megacorps. I would never dream of stealing definitions from Vivian, so I’ll leave it to zhim to present!
(Vivian:) Definitions are lovely, are they not? Anyway, I defined a megacorp as:
A megacorp is a corporation that exists essentially independent of the government of the state in which it resides.
With a corporation being defined as:
A corporation is an abstract entity that exists with the goal of earning money.
(Anne:) So, what are the pros and cons? Well, there’s a lot, and in my view, it’s mostly negative. As we all know, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and megacorps have pretty absolute power. That power would go to almost anyone’s head, and the lure of increasing profits is huge. My friend’s husband works in IT in the US, and legally, companies have to deliver profits to their shareholders. That means they have to continue increasing profit every single year, or the shareholders can sue them. A perverse incentive if I’ve ever heard one. Does that really sound sustainable? Well, yeah, it’s not, but if you have a megacorp, you could keep it going a lot longer and keep going until people are barely scraping by, depending on the type of megacorp. So it can get pretty bad pretty fast with average human greed.
Now, of course, guardrails and ethical leadership can help this, and I think at its best, a megacorp could use its massive power to protect the less fortunate and level out costs so that people only had to pay what they could afford and, ideally, the megacorp could even help people in need. But, well, the instant those guardrails or leadership fail, it falls apart. Vivian, what about you?
(Vivian:) The big issue I see when it comes to megacorps is the single-mindedness and the unchecked nature of it. It is like a hyper-intelligent AI with the only goal to collect stamps. It is going to go to absurd degrees to get what it wants regardless of what we think because of its single-minded nature and complete disregard for morality. And megacorps are these AIs, except they have human cogs in them. And like said AI, if you put restrictions on it, 9/10 times it will find a way around the restriction and still get all those bloody stamps made out of humans.
So how does one deal with this kind of nature of megacorps if you want them to be good? Well, that is why you’re here, right?
What is TCCMC?
(Anne:) To start, let’s flesh out the wonderful megacorp that Vivian and I have been developing. Let’s get some basics first. By the way, we have a whole page on the TCCMC! Check it out!
(Vivian:) Stop stealing the first of every section! :P
(Anne:) 😛
(Vivian:) But yes, as much as I would love to take sole credit for this, I could not have done it as well as I have without my beloved sister's help. But what is it? TCCMC stands for Tshutsi Cogni-Chip Manufacturing Company. Hardly the most original of names, but when you are that big, originality symbolises WEAKNESS! Or something, I don’t know; I just know it is done in real life, so I mimic it.
(Anne:) You’re probably wondering what a cognichip is, right? A natural question for Earthlings who don’t have the cognisphere yet!
(Vivian:) Alright, you all know processors and graphic cards, little microchips, or many of them, working together. Now think of those, but we throw in quantum computing and other forms of developed computing as well, add some steroids, and you get cognichips. The core difference between them and normal chips on Earth is that Earth ones are designed to work independently and locally, whereas cognichips are designed to work together to form a super hive cloud computation thing where security and encryption are first and foremost. It is all built on the premise that you cannot trust anyone.
How does it work? Don’t ask me; I am intelligent, but I don’t have tech knowledge of the next few centuries to think of how it works, only that this is how their world operates. But one thing I can add is that I intentionally made it like this because I am so sick and tired of Hollywood hacking.
(Anne:) The cognisphere is definitely an interesting thing, and I'm sure we’ll have a practicum on it at some point. It’s on the list!
Company history
(Anne:) Technically, cognichip technology and the cognisphere were developed by the Divine Dominion, but they were already pretty powerful, so they decided to give that technology to someone a little more… neutral. Giving up power?! Who would do that? Well, welcome to Vivian’s universe! You’ll notice a similar thing happening with TCCMC, and really, giving up a little power can often result in better outcomes for everyone involved in the long run. It’s just that most people don’t think long-term.
(Vivian:) As said, the Divine Dominion had amassed quite a bit of power through conquest. My universe is optimistic, not naive. But they developed the cognisphere exactly because they believed in truth and that states often have too much power censoring. Which I find endlessly hilarious given how centralised they are; read in my Limax post!
So, as the cognisphere was spreading and being developed further and coming to dominate all computing and unifying people, the other great powers were getting REALLY annoyed that the Dominion had yet another source of power and could cut off all of them from highly sensitive and important technology. So they gave an ultimatum: hand over the technology, or there will be war. The Dominion agreed to hand it over to avoid a great war, but with the caveat that it would not be one of the great powers that took it.
(Anne:) Yeah, okay, maybe that makes a little more sense than my blasé version of them just handing it over, but Vivian tends to be so optimistic about things!
(Vivian:) I am optimistic, not naive 😜
(Anne:) Uh-huh, sure 😉
(Vivian:) So anyway, that happened, and the great powers settled on the only small star nation that had been able to make everyone fuck off in wars to take it because they had the prowess to remain neutral: the Tshutsi League of Worlds! And after a lot of work and moving, the TCCMC HQ was built, plus orbital installation and more in the solar system, Lotshutsi. And since then, the vast majority of all cognichips have been manufactured in the Lotshutsi and exported to every other power of any size in known space.
(Anne:) The founding principle of TCCMC that allows people to trust it is the Three Thirds Rule, which states that a third of the TCCMC needs to be owned by the Tshutsi League, a third by citizens of Lotshusi, and anyone in known space can own the remaining third. That ensures fairly tight government control along with a concentration in the neutral system of Lotshutsi. As I’ll talk about later, I consider this essential in making it an ethical megacorp.
(Vivian:) To go back to what was said before also, TCCMC does NOT have to, by law, make or aim for constant profit. They essentially always do anyway due to the ever increasing market, but they are not legally bound to do it. The only thing they are legally bound to do is make sure that they are producing cognichips to sate the market needs, with wiggle room for life being as it is.
(Anne:) An extremely important point! No getting sued if they maintain the same profit level; stable profits, can you imagine the horror! 🙄
TCCMC was also left in the care of a single family, though it didn’t exactly start out that way. Njatsina Tshakomara was the first President, and it passed to her child, and just kind of kept going until the Tshakomara family was firmly entrenched as the leaders of TCCMC. They value this responsibility and take it seriously, and members of the family who want to be considered for president start working at the bottom and have to work their way up the ranks just like anyone else would. They’re confirmed by a vote of the board of trustees, which reflects the Three Thirds balance. Technically, someone else could become president, but honestly, it isn’t going to happen.
(Vivian:) There are always candidates outside the family, but in modern times, no one really expects them ever to win the vote to become president. Formally, de jure, the family is not the company; de facto, they are the leaders and are expected to be for a long time unless something catastrophic happens.
(Anne:) The latest president, Tthakira Tshakomara, has made quite a splash in the universe, and Vivian and I developed her a lot. We wrote an entire practicum dedicated to her ad campaign that’s a must-read for anyone looking to win universal goodwill for an individual and megacorp. She’s firmly established TCCMC as an ethical megacorp in the mind of the people of Stellima, but let’s look at the company in a little more detail.
Is it really a megacorp?
(Anne:) Stealing first again! One of the first things you may wonder is… does this actually count? Well, Vivian and I would argue yes. Mostly, at least. In all the ways that matter.
The key difference, as many of you could probably guess, is that they aren’t exactly independent of the government. In fact, they’re pretty closely linked to the government, and a ton of guidelines dictate the relationship between them, some of which we’ll get to later. However, if they really wanted, they could easily be equal. Imagine that Tthakira decided to split from the Tshutsi League. Who exactly would stop her? Who COULD stop her? No one. But being connected to the government benefits TCCMC, so even if they take a purely profits-driven view, it’s better to stick with government control.
Just like the Divine Dominion got an ultimatum, TCCMC would find a similar reception if they went rogue, so to speak. The cognisphere is just too valuable to be independent. Remember what I said about the necessity of guardrails? That’s exactly what the Tshutsi League provides, and if TCCMC shook off that control, they’d find themselves a target of… everyone.
So, how is it a megacorp? VIVIAN! Time to shine!
(Vivian:) Yeah yeah you damn thief!
So yeah, what makes it a megacorp, then? Well, the definition says ”essentially,” and TCCMC essentially runs its own business as it sees fit. It deals with the government to keep its face looking nice and to not start getting stomped on by the great powers, who just happen to be the biggest buyers of cognichips. But the company is so big that for the League, a huge fraction of the state’s income, taxes, and dividends come from TCCMC, and also, huge portions of the Tshutsi economy rely on TCCMC.
It is either because they employ so many people–we talk at a bare minimum of tens of millions of employees, probably even hundreds, that are all located all around the League. So you can imagine that a lot of people are completely dependent on TCCMC doing well enough. Side note: this is also why TCCMC is generally reluctant to cut down on employees when needed; their needs can fluctuate, but if they let people go, that will have a significant impact on many.
So yeah, even though the League is technically in charge, if TCCMC says they REALLY need something to make things work for them… the League takes careful notes and listens out of sheer fear that anything might cause instability for the economy. They won’t necessarily do it… but most often will, as long as it is not too outrageous. You can imagine your own political career going down the drain if you cannot justify why loads of people go unemployed by your own actions.
Type of Megacorp
(Vivian:) In my post on megacorps, I described that a megacorp could come in 4 non-exclusive flavours: vertical, horizontal, monopoly, and monopsony. Short version of each is:
Vertical - You own all you need to make the end project beginning to end
Horizontal - You spread out to cover as many different types of industries as possible
Monopoly - You are the only seller
Monopsony - You are the only buyer
So, where is TCCMC? In my view, they do vertical and monopoly. So, let’s start with vertical. The requirement for cognichips is extremely specific with lots of nentrofied elements–see my post on struos! This means that their needs are very specialised in terms of what alloys are needed, what compounds they need, what purities, literally every step. And sure, they could have other companies for that, but it is like… why?
It is much more efficient to have all that under TCCMC. That way, they can control quality easily, control quantity of production, control when things shift, and get all estimates in-house. It might not be THE most efficient in all regards; for example, they are not the best forges in known space, but they don’t need to be the best forges… they just need to be the best at their specific niché.
So they mine, smelt, and do all steps at various stages until it eventually comes out as a cognichip. This has the additional benefit of meaning that the end product is, in fact, cheaper. If there are many companies in between, each one will add more on top to make a profit, and the end product gets more expensive. Because TCCMC controls all of it, they only need to slap on one profit margin percentage at the end, and that is it.
Monopoly is more obvious: they produce so much, so fast, at such high quality that there is no other company that has a stone’s toss chance in hell to compete. Some try, but very few consumers buy those cognichips simply because their quality is never good enough. So TCCMC has cornered the market by having a huge barrier to entry. They were essentially handed the entry key and have kept it since then.
As for the other types, it isn’t a monopsony because the only places it could have been, it vertically integrated into itself to avoid that, and horizontally, it isn’t that either because if it isn’t cognichip-related, that is not in their sphere of interest. It is not like they would be allowed to spread out anyway.
Impact on people and environments
(Anne:) One of the big things I don’t like about major corporations is how they treat their employees and the environment. Vivian mentioned fast fashion earlier, and that’s a perfect example. Sweatshops and overflowing landfills, people and the environment totally trashed. But we’re making this ethical, so how can a megacorp possibly do better?
First, TCCMC values its employees, no matter how lowly the job. Part of it is the corporate ethos established by the Tshakomara family, who start their careers at those lowly levels most company presidents would never dream of doing. This establishes the first precedent that every job matters and no one is above anyone else.
This is established at the highest levels and emphasized all the way down to create a corporate culture of value and, incidentally, increase loyalty quite a bit. Employees are given shares in the company (respecting the Three Thirds Rule, of course), so they personally benefit when the company benefits. They take pride in their jobs because no matter what part of the process they’re employed in, they know they’re creating the cognisphere that almost everyone in known space relies on. That’s pretty powerful, no matter what you do! So basically, you have loyal, incentivized, empowered employees.
Oh yeah, the jobs have competitive wages, generous benefits, and are exactly as stable as you want.
(Vivian:) I want to add that they don’t have ”benefits” as Americans envision it because… it’s just normal and expected in their culture. Does the company go a bit above and beyond? Yeah, a happy employee is a productive employee.
(Anne:) My American-ness does come out sometimes! Some people like leapfrogging the ranks, but others just want a job they know they’ll still have when they retire. TCCMC offers something of everything to satisfy anyone interested, and for anyone who wants to pivot to something else, they provide plenty of educational opportunities to encourage employees.
Although TCCMC is centralized in Lotshutsi, they don’t discriminate against anyone who wants to work for them and follow the Orion Accords with regard to equal opportunity. They currently boast employees from over 100 species, but I’m not sure anyone’s ever done an official count since it doesn’t really matter except as a matter of curiosity.
So how can they afford any of this? Well, first, as we’ve said, the cognisphere is everywhere. Think of the internet except way, way more prevalent and significant. So, while they aren’t bound to increase profits, even their average profit is insane. Vertical integration reduces production costs, and even though they keep prices for consumers reasonably low, there’s plenty to invest in people. And invest they do. They see their workforce as essential to the company and treat them well. In return, people are happy to give their all, which has the bonus of increasing profits even more.
So that’s the people and how TCCMC manages to treat its workforce ethically. What about the environment? Surely, such massive production will trash the planets where the mines are located, right? Vivian, take it away!
(Vivian:) First of all, for what you REALLY can’t get rid off… They have this big natural furnace at the centre of the solar system that they can launch stuff into if they absolutely need to. But for the most part, they try to recycle as much as possible. It is centuries into the future, and they can recycle a lot of their waste. And even on planetside things, again, a lot doesn’t need just to be thrown away since there are (relatively) cheap ways to get things into orbit; think orbital elevators.
(Anne:) Keep in mind as well that a lot of the “dirtier” stuff happens on asteroids or is otherwise not on the surface of a planet.
(Vivian:) Which does help the whole throwing-it-into-the-sun bit. The benefit of space industries!
(Anne:) One place where employee welfare and environmental impact intersect has to do with accidents, which unfortunately do happen. One recent incident happened under Tthakira’s watch, not when she was president, but when she was still working her way up the ranks. It involved mining on an asteroid, and unfortunately, people died as a result. Naturally, her family covered it up! Haha, you didn’t believe that, did you? Are you even reading this?
Nope, she was held accountable for her actions, same as anyone else would be, thus reinforcing the corporate climate of accountability and equality. And she took that to heart, never forgetting that people died as a direct result of her failures. As a result of that incident, she pushed TCCMC to reform its worker protections, something the company does regularly. Accidents are inevitable, but they can be reduced, and doing so is the moral responsibility of every president. On a more heartless note, it also helps productivity if employees know they have top-of-the-line protection and that they and their loved ones will be cared for if something happens.
(Vivian:) A line from one of Tthakira’s favourite books reads
A bridge built sturdy can carry heavier loads.
How are they ethical?
(Anne:) You probably already can guess the answer to this, since Vivian and I have been smacking you with the ethical nature of TCCMC this whole time. But what are the key points.
(Vivian:) One key point I always say, both in governments and here, is the importance of keeping in touch with the bottom. A lot of problems I see in anything is when there becomes a disconnect between the bottom and the top because then the top makes decisions that tend to enrage and harm the bottom. It is harder to do things to harm people you know and interact with.
And here, it is similar in that the Tshakomara family has been at the top, but they have, throughout the generations, kept a very close tie to all people of all levels, even at the bottom. This is exactly to avoid the issue of losing touch with them. Tthakira’s father, the president before her, Tsinillo as he was called, personally helped a lot of less fortunate people during holidays, exactly to never lose touch with people.
(Anne:) My response is pretty similar but focused on a different aspect: government control of the corporation. Personally, I think government control is a big part of what keeps TCCMC ethical. Maybe it’s me being optimistic here at the start of 2025, but I think governments, especially democracies like the Tshutsi League, tend to stay more responsive to the people and less prone to seeking profit at all costs than corporations. As long as checks and balances keep the government in check, the will of the people tends to be served, and with the addition of a strong free press, corruption is limited. This is what the Tshutsi League brings to TCCMC: a check, a balance, and a method by which corruption is exposed and excised.
(Vivian:) One thing why the League stays in touch with their people so well is because the politicians know that for their district, one wrong move and it isn’t an ”oh I got 3 years until next election, I can keep angering them and get my cozy money,” nope, they lose their job instantly because people can call for a new election immediately.
(Anne:) Ah, the joys of checks and balances… What a world they live in!
Summa Summarum
(Vivian:) So what is there to say except buy cognitech from TCCMC! Special sales now!
(Anne:) And if you want a job with TCCMC, you can submit your application here!
(Vivian:) Jokes aside, the key points are the usual ones I say: keeping in touch with the lower levels, checks and balances, and not having perverse incentives running amok.
(Anne:) And, as always, see what you can do in your own writing to play with the stereotype of the evil megacorp. Will they probably be evil? Sure. Do they have to be? Definitely not! How will you make them ethical? The only limit is your imagination!
(Vivian:) BYE!
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Copyright ©️ 2025 Vivian Sayan and Anne Winchell. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. Generic concepts such as megacorps are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. However, specific ideas such as TCCMC, the Tshutsi, Divine Dominion, cognichips, the cognisphere, the Tshakomaro family and all members, and anything else specific to the Stellima universe, plus all language or exact phrasing are individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
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