Sounds like the plot of "Big Brother" by Cory Doctorow

Try "No agenda, no attenda" - see if a touch of levity helps.

Lovely essay, tone reminds me this book which has a similar vibe.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/truck-on-rebuilding-a-worn-out...

I think there may be an issue with your link, it's just taking me to the thrift books home page.

I also really enjoyed the writing style.

I suspect it is this book.

https://www.booktopia.com.au/truck-john-jerome/book/97808745...

Kernighan!

And how can we leave out the OG of tech writers: Donald Knuth. He got a bit distracted by developing TeX but he got a well deserved Turing award for the series.

That's exactly what the Lizard overlords are doing! /s - wouldn't be surprised there's a few conspiracy theorists who believe this...

Parent comment is working from The Gervais Principle[1] of office politics. There are companies where that's an accurate description of reality, unpleasant though it might be.

[1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

This is where defensively blocking off your calendar comes in!

I don’t get why municipal investment isn’t more of a thing - why can’t cities and counties be their own PE, buy a small fire truck company and turn it into a non-profit? If they captured the surplus that’s going to the PE company surely costs would be cheaper?

I guess that’s socialism though, so not gonna happen.

A tangent - sounds like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Koli - a key plot component is a chatty Sony AI music player. A little YA, but a fun read..

Popper and "the paradox of tolerance" to the rescue. You can, and should, tolerate anything but intolerance.