Chapter Eighty-Three: An Absurd Era

During this climb, both their bodies and minds were under intense pressure, and those with weaker endurance had long since been eliminated by society. In such a distorted society, nothing is surprising anymore. The Americans don’t consider the Japanese as being Westernized; their level of openness is enough to make even Americans blush.

The Japanese have many ways to relieve stress, and video games are undoubtedly a crucial outlet. These arcade machines aren’t just for America; Japan itself will sell a significant number as well. After Christmas, the gaming industry will usher in a revolution—these are epoch-making ideas that will leave those old-timers utterly dumbfounded.

Then comes the final test. Judging by the current situation, there’s no significant problem. After all, this is just an engineering prototype, and achieving this level is already quite impressive. If Japanese factories couldn’t reach this standard, they’d be deeply ashamed.

When the number of screens showing “Home Alone” increased to 1,500, the Hollywood giants began to sweat, half out of anger, half out of fear. The opening weekend brought in over twenty million at the box office, and there were no signs of decline in the second week. The film also swept the overseas Christmas market. Anyone who scheduled a release in the same window was considered to be at odds with the theater chains.

A solitary bloom of success!

What’s that? It’s ridiculous? Are you stupid or crazy? Of course a comedy must be funny—take a look at your own comedies; how do you end up making them into thrillers?

This was the second film of the year to cross the hundred-million mark at the box office. Well, maybe it wouldn’t reach that much—the year was almost over—but it would still make another hundred million dollars. Not long ago, the talk was all about their supposed extravagance, but now that seems like a joke. With a hundred million dollars, you couldn’t spend it all even if you tried; is throwing away a million really so much?

In truth, it isn’t. White Pictures had already decided to donate all of the second week’s box office to help single-parent families who had lost their jobs. The media exploded instantly. Over twenty million at the box office, with at least ten million belonging to White Pictures—this was the global box office revenue, not just America’s. Even if it wasn’t quite twenty million, it wouldn’t be far off.

In comparison, a million is just a drop in the bucket. The boss himself said, “After working hard all year, let’s use it to buy some candy!”

How could the mainstream media not praise such a socially responsible young man? This is the product of elite education and must be lauded to the skies.

The so-called million-dollar scandal was merely the work of a few who were trying to stir the pot. For William White, these are just child’s play.

Some people were led astray by the noise, but if they kept pestering, he’d bankrupt their newspaper without a second thought. In this economic climate, losing your job means you’ll struggle to find another. As for those so-called blacklists, it’s best not to test their authenticity—William White is a man who repays every slight.

His rough-and-tumble style intimidated many. The wealthy are supposed to care about appearances, but when someone doesn’t, you really have no defense. He makes it clear: “I’m a rogue—who am I afraid of?”

When facing a brash nouveau-riche, it’s best not to provoke them. If he can dye his dog green, who knows what else he’s capable of? Respectable people would never act like that. In fact, everyone knows this is a message to the outside world—don’t mess around, or you’ll find out just how messy things can get.

You know what? The old-timers are actually afraid of this. Angering a cowboy is far more troublesome than dealing with the mob—they really will throw down, and if you don’t believe it, you can try for yourself.

For a time, this kind of deterrent works, but only for a time. The true nature of America is plutocratic capitalism. Once interests swell beyond a certain point, all kinds of power plays and suppression will inevitably follow.

The new generation of tycoons is mainly concentrated in IT, and that’s no accident. The old aristocrats look down on these industries—controlling food, clothing, and shelter is what really matters; everything else is secondary.

At this time, America was somewhat like Hong Kong in later years: tycoons controlled all industries through commercial real estate, and new capital was powerless to break in.

But America isn’t quite the same—they have Silicon Valley. As long as you’re capable enough, you can still make money and stand a chance of becoming a tycoon.

However, all of that has now ended. The IT industry’s reshuffling is over. After the 2008 subprime crisis, America abruptly stopped enforcing antitrust laws.

Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon—these companies grew unchecked. Whenever something new appeared, they’d immediately acquire it; if you refused, they’d simply suppress you.

Patent infringement? That depends on your opponent. After a drawn-out lawsuit, your company would be long gone. Even if you eventually won, could you afford the legal fees?

America finally realized that only they were enforcing antitrust laws, and the result was destroying their own companies. Look at Europe, Japan, and South Korea—their fines for monopolies were severe, but if the U.S. identified a company as a monopoly, they’d immediately step in and slap them down, worse than anyone else.

When has America ever suffered such losses?

Now, trillion-dollar companies are everywhere.

Antitrust? Ha! Who really knows how many abusive clauses Apple and Google have? Their app stores rake in who-knows-how-much, and every clause reeks of monopoly. Why isn’t the Department of Justice investigating? If this had happened in the 1980s, a few companies would have been forcibly split up long ago.

One must admit, the rules set by America’s founding fathers made sense—monopolies really do hinder technological progress.

But after 2008, America essentially became shameless, propping up their own monopolies. Since the subprime crisis, there haven’t really been any significant new tech companies.

With no competition, Microsoft and Intel became stagnant giants; Moore’s Law lost its meaning. As long as users’ needs were met, there was no need to release anything better. If not for AMD, you could forget about playing cutting-edge games—your system would just choke.

Did Intel really lack 7-nanometer technology? Don’t be ridiculous. Their 14-nanometer chips already outperformed AMD. Why bother with a new architecture? They may have had new products five years ago, but simply held them back.

If not for AMD, in another ten years, it’s hard to say if desktops could compete with anything; maybe even mobile CPUs would surpass laptops. This is the curse of monopolies—the ones who suffer in the end are the consumers.

This era is different though: everyone is racing to outdo each other. Motorola, Texas Instruments—they’re all making CPUs, and the gap isn’t so wide. If any design deserves the crown, it’s Motorola’s 68000.

It’s a shame, though, that the communications market was simply too lucrative. A single pager could cost several hundred or even a thousand dollars—CPUs were hardly worth mentioning.

Who knows how those guys with armfuls of dynamite ended up blowing themselves up in the end.

But enough about that—White Pictures has risen with unstoppable force, at a speed that defies belief, and from an angle that leaves everyone bewildered. Judging by the audience’s reaction, comedy films will definitely be the main event next year.