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Comment by nickff | Hacker News Reader

Most corporations are not run by psychopaths (even the big ones); the idea that they are has become a sort of meme, with little evidence in its favor, and a great deal against it. There's even a book about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Psychopath_Test

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Perhaps psychopath might be an exaggeration here but the primary desire for many is to grow income. The options chosen generally favor the path of least/resistance.

Until there's a law mandating morality in business decision making, why should a business entity care? Perhaps it might find comfort in using morality as a differentiator, but the companies that primarily focus on morality are the exception, not the norm.

One company actual advertised that they were looking for a psychopaths to fill their new business media sales executive position because they wanted someone who was money driven and willing to do "whatever it takes".

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/psychopath-...

i don't think you'll find widespread agreement on what's moral or not. what's moral for you maybe abhorrent to someone else. there's not necessarily any absolute good or bad, it's all a matter of perspective.

Consider the lamentably frequent situation where a corporation does something that would get a human person sent to prison or be subjected to a severe fine, but escapes with a token punishment. In some cases corporations become repeat offenders because the statutory penalties, though still for an individual, are small enough for a corporation that they can be accepted as a cost of doing business.

Sure, morality is subjective to an extent but not every company is Ben and Jerry’s or REI, two companies that are the poster-children of the more-ethical side of corporations.

Don't know how many of big biz leaders are psychopaths, but many of them don't seem to be nice people

Elon refusing to pay ex-Twitter employees what they are owed in severance, Zuck wasting Billions of dollars on his shitty Metaverse idea while firing tens of thousands to save money at the same time, Facebook/Google etc hiring thousands of people during Covid without any plan except to pad their numbers (and prevent competitors from hiring those employees) only to fire them a couple of years later, people like that WeWork dude (don't even know where to begin), apps like Uber screwing over their drivers, forcing people to commute to office for no reason.... and on and on

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