World’s most valuable corporation reveals new disposable gadgets

Cupertino-based company announces $1000 piece of metal, glass, to replace last year’s $700 piece of metal, glass

Published September 12, 2017 4:34PM (EDT)

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre (Getty/Justin Sullivan)
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre (Getty/Justin Sullivan)

This morning in California, a large corporation dispatched a human on a stage to announce new things that they would sell and which they believed would be extremely desirable. These things included several glass and metal objects shaped roughly like rectangular prisms.

One of these glass and metal devices could be strapped to humans’ wrists. It appeared identical to previous devices manufactured by the corporation, which could also be strapped to humans’ wrists. The other glass and metal device could be held in a hand and also looked identical to hundreds of millions of similar devices that already exist.

Despite this, many humans opined about the incredible importance of these objects and articulated why they would be so desirable.

http://twitter.com/Pogue/status/907677810432471040

http://twitter.com/Dj_E5QUIRE/status/907670389341294599

http://twitter.com/CNET/status/907669565483638784

http://twitter.com/Reuters/status/907669915045376001

Others disagreed with the purported desirability of these objects.

http://twitter.com/strobist/status/907670067739066369

http://twitter.com/Crawf33/status/907667910633570304

However, all agreed it was important to think about and discuss the device, and that it was superior to other similar-looking devices, which were now obsolete.

The company that sold these devices — ironically named after an organic object, in contrast to the synthetic objects that the company sells — affirmed that it was important and revolutionary and anticipated that tens of millions of people will desire it.

http://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/907573443566202880

The corporation also announced that its stores, where it sells its products, would now be called “town squares.” This is in contrast to their primary function, which is facilitating the transfer of wealth from consumers to the corporation.

The prism-shaped device announced today is built not by the company selling it but rather by a large network of outsourced, poorly-paid and exploited humans around the planet. This includes miners in the eastern Congo, many of whom go into debt to work mining the rare mineral used in the device’s production; assembly-line workers who toil in a large city-size factory in China and who live in dorms with gated windows to prevent them from committing suicide; and packers and shippers who tolerate back-breaking conditions to ship the device around the world to consumers.

The labor conditions involved in the device’s production were not discussed by the corporation during their 2-hour infomercial.

The vast majority of the tens of millions of new devices sold will be discarded within five years. 

We may consume at least one of the things as well.


By Keith A. Spencer

Keith A. Spencer is a social critic and author. Previously a senior editor at Salon, he writes about capitalism, science, labor and culture, and published a book on how Silicon Valley is destroying the world. Keep up with his writing on TwitterFacebook, or Substack.

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