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by EnergyAmy 14 days ago
Which is why elsewhere I make the argument that we should strongly reject the terminology of "people" in any relation to corporations. It leads people down bad mental thought processes by sneaking in priors.

Corporations are not "X people". Corporations are not people, period. Natural people are just people.

1 comments

I had the same logic as you previously, actually. But, eventually, I realized the terminology is not as misleading as it appears.

Try defining what is "people". What is "natural people". Why do "natural people" have "rights". What is a "corporation". How does a "corporation" differ from any other legal fiction. So on.

People are humans. Natural people are people, and therefore humans. Humans have rights because we all want to live in a society where it's not OK to murder people without consequences.

Corporations are pieces of paper we've scribbled on. Because they are pieces of paper, they cannot be harmed.

This is the primary difference between corporations and people.

People can be harmed through the pieces of paper they've scribbled on. That is material. But do not mistake that for the paper being harmed. It can't be. It's just a piece of paper.

1. Why only humans are people? Why not other species, even if they were as sentient as us?

2. What is murder? Why is killing justified in certain cases (e.g. self defense, death penalties, abortions, etc.) and not in others?

3. What is the piece of paper of a corporation? What makes it different any other piece of paper? I don't think USA's agents are harming people through pieces of papers.

4. What is harm? Consider when someone puts fire into one of Meta's unoccupied buildings who gets harmed.