9 - Immediate Threats

Summary

The final chapter notes that Alphabet’s megacorporate existence could, further to the ideological reasons detailed in Chapter 8, potentially be brought to an end by two sets of considerations that are readily apparent right now. The first set of considerations relates to discord amongst the megacorporation’s employees, and the second to anti-monopoly sentiment. Taken together, these considerations suggest that, in the short term, Alphabet’s capacity to remain a megacorporation will likely turn on its capacity to account for disruptive elements from within; and its capacity to avoid being undermined by anti-trust threats from without. The chapter’s summary then brings the book to a close by emphasizing that, even if Alphabet’s existence comes to an end sooner rather than later, the megacorporate concept it is an example of, the identification of the infinite times ideology that informs it and the philosophical perspective that I have used to discuss it, remain of value: for they all help reveal that corporate influence over society is more profound than is commonly recognized.