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World, Incorporated depicts the country of United States, which is no longer ruling the world. The unrest and intolerance in present day America is a clear indication that the future is not as secure as the government wants us to believe. Do you think it is a possibility that the country of United States would lose its power in the near future? Do you think the world created by Tom Gariffo is a possibility? Why do you think so? Why not?

I have not read the book, but the premise of a world ruled by a dystopian oligarchy has been done before in the book Cloud Atlas (2004) by David Mitchell, and the movie Network (1976) to name just two.

From the movie Network ...

Arthur Jensen: "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU... WILL... ATONE! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that... perfect world... in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel."

Howard Beale: "Why me?"

Arthur Jensen: "Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday."

Howard Beale: "I have seen the face of God."

Arthur Jensen: "You just might be right, Mr. Beale."

I don’t believe the United States will ever lose power. It’s the most powerful country and I think will stay that way.

I find it incredibly possible for the United States to lose power at some point in the future. It is still a relatively young country and unrest is rising. I have not read enough of the book yet to say whether or not this specific would is a possibility but at this point, anything is possible.

I do not think it predicts the future and I certainly hope not.

Everything will depend on collective belief of the citizens because they are the one who will decide about the future. Present day governments and corporates only can try to shape their belief.

Probably not, in most cases, the future will ultimately be more mundane than anything else really. Remember Soylent Green? It takes place in 2022 and the only thing that has happened similarly is that soylent actually exists (As a powder but still)

The book is really predicting the future of countries which are already having challenges now. I think themes in this novel do not only predict about one particular country or government, but rather several governments.

This is a definite possibility. The political climate in the U.S. right now is really damaging the relationships with other countries, and there does not seem to be an emphasis on advances. I would not be surprised if the U.S. was not a world leader in 10 years, let alone 40.

I don't think it predicts the future. We don't know what the future holds and I would want to begin reading the book with that in mind. I like the imagination it took , but it needs to be read as entertainment, getting to know the characters and their part in this story, rather than trying to figure out if our world will be like this in the future, or not.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I think it is entirely possible that such a dystopia could occur. According to our current legal system, corporations are people too. Can you imagine a company such as Google taking a stand against big goverments like the US? They actually already are! Recently, the company pulled out of Project Maven because their technology was being used by the Pentagon in controversial (and illegal) wars.

Imagine Elon Musk really solving the Flint water crisis (as he has pledged to do on Twitter). People would start to realize that we don't need these corrupt politicians anymore, but rich corporations will be there to fill the power vacuum!

I don't think the world created by Tom Gariffo is a possibility. But I do believe that the US will lose its power. The world as we know it will definitely cease to exist. We see how things are changing all the time. The only prediction concerning our world and our future which I believe, is what is written in Revelation. But this type of science fiction, trying to make sense of an ever-changing world, makes for very interesting reading.

I'm not sure the US government could mess up to that degree. I understand the premise of letting big corporations take over certain things - but I think the government has enough control over their decision making to make sure this type of future doesn't happen. I also don't think heads of state would ever just fall away.

dbulkley wrote: ↑01 Aug 2018, 12:05 I don’t believe the United States will ever lose power. It’s the most powerful country and I think will stay that way.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I cannot agree with you on that one. Do you know how much is the US debt to China? - $1.18 trillion! If you haven't realised, China is slowly ruling the world, while America is losing its power. I think this book really predicts the future.

I think that it's entirely possible given the current state of affairs.