There’s a lot we can learn from supersized corporate entities, floating above the fray, wheeling, dealing, yet never kneeling. You’ll read about it on your way to work from the bedroom to the bathroom. Previously great companies have decided double vision trounces the pitfalls of having a single brand message.
Some people still don’t understand that America is a collection of fifty individual states. Our national spirit depends on random combinations - that to some, confound and confuse. And ad agencies have been merging rapidly for the last few years, shedding their original identity in favor of a few extra letters. If it worked for law firms – what makes the hawkers of shaving cream and kitty litter so special?
Understandably, people are attached to their names and the names of the companies they work for. That needs to change. We need to merge companies that don’t have anything in common. Two shoe companies can join forces, but what about Apple and The Onion over a shared love of produce? Salads and sandwiches must merge. Cats and dogs. Pens and pencils. Shoes and sandals. Doctors and dentists. There's no stopping us once we really commit to our merging world.
Individuality gets more people into trouble than anything else. When you’re in a group, you don’t have to think – they think for you. That’s all groupthink is, a chance to put on autopilot for a while. What’s the harm in that? I don’t have the data to back up this claim – but when have I ever needed that?
Dreams of a one world government may be closer than most citizens realize. It only takes a few mergers before we’re all dressing the same and speaking Esperanto under single global time zone. Folks in the 1970s had it right with their passion for the hyphen. Although, getting back to grunting might be a good start at the wholesale revamping of communication. We’ve lost our way and a reboot might just be in order.
The world I want to wake up in announces a new merger every day. But it won’t be relegated to the rarefied sphere of Davos dilettantes and corporate raiders. No, we must change our language to be more inclusive, too. I dream of having friends over to lunch-dinner at my chair-table for food-drinks.
But those changes are, in essence, rather superficial. Why can’t we merge with our pets? Our doorstops? Our favorite brand of oatmeal? Sure, the merging with robots has already happened – just look at the growth on your hand as you scroll through social media on the fast track to happiness. You're only partially human at this point.
When we go to Mars, there’s no such thing as packing light. We’ll need to bring the entire planet with us. That’s right. Mars can’t compete on the universal stage without the Earth in its back pocket. The definition of “mirth” is amusement, after all. Towing an entire planet might seem crazy, but that's only if you've never seriously considered putting a house on a moving truck. We uproot trees all the time and transplant themselves every chance we get.
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