World Leaders
“First, do no harm.” This principle, rooted in the Hippocratic Oath, is meant to guide healthcare toward prioritizing patient well being above all else. Yet, the reality of modern healthcare raises an unsettling question: is access to life-saving treatment truly placed above profit? While world leaders and policymakers play a role in shaping healthcare systems, cyberpunk literature reminds us that corporations can grow powerful enough to rival or even surpass government influence. When medications are no longer simply products but lifelines, the question becomes unavoidable: who truly controls access to survival?
Our past studies
This concern connects closely to themes explored in Blade Runner, Neuromancer, and Machinehood. In Blade Runner, we encounter a dystopian world shaped by advanced technology and corporate dominance over human life. Similarly, Neuromancer follows Case, a character who escapes into cyberspace, reflecting a society where corporate systems blur the line between reality and control. Machinehood further develops this idea by presenting a future where corporations dominate technological systems and labor structures.
A real world corporation that mirrors these cyberpunk themes is Walmart. Once a family-owned business, Walmart has grown into a global powerhouse, symbolizing the shift from small scale enterprise to massive corporate influence much like the towering, neon-lit corporations seen in cyberpunk worlds.
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Walmart's business is built on offering consistently low prices, but often depends on minimizing labor costs. Reports from SHRM Walmart, which has roughly 1.6 million U.S employees, has lowered starting pay for new hires who prepare online orders. While Walmart is known to offer lower prices, this now seems as though is competing with other chain markets. Due to the increase low paid retail workers are now turning to governmental assistances just to make ends meet.
At the same time, Walmart’s expansion into services like pharmacies illustrates another layer of corporate control. These systems require strict hiring processes, including background checks and drug testing, reinforcing a highly regulated and controlled workforce. In this sense, Walmart parallels Machinehood, where corporate systems dictate not only economic conditions but also access to opportunities and services.
In Neuromancer, the idea of Walmart's mission reflects corporations control. For instance, cost of foods, deliveries, service, shipping etc. For this reason also requires an immense number of staff to extend in varies parts of the departments.
Walmart at every poverty neighborhood
Cyberpunk often imagines a future dominated by corporations and advanced technology, yet Walmart demonstrates that elements of this future already exist. Its presence in many low-income and underserved communities makes it both a vital resource and a symbol of economic dependence. While it provides affordability and accessibility, it also reinforces a system where large corporations hold significant power over local economies. Ultimately, Walmart represents a blend of two worlds: the dystopian future envisioned in cyberpunk and the reality we are living in today. Its global reach, influence over labor, and control of essential goods suggest that corporate dominance is not just a fictional warning but an evolving reality not only for workers, but as consumers as well.
AI was used to fix original thoughts https://chatgpt.com/share/69c882eb-d2d8-8329-ac35-3d87705275b1.
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/benefits-compensation/walmart-lowering-starting-pay-will-employers-follow
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-rolls-surprising-change-every-013700065.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/01/14/walmart-new-logo-redesign/77689947007/