these people — Casual way to point at a group; avoid it in writing or about your boss.
I don't think these guys set out to be evil.The Social Dilemma · 2020 — 第 13 / 14 章 · 3'31" · C1
Interviewees Call for Regulation, Explained：put the genie back in the bottle
The argument looks technical: business models, taxes, laws. Underneath, the question is whether public rules or the richest people get to set the terms. One line puts it bluntly: "Are we always gonna defer to the richest, most powerful people?"
あらすじ
Unnamed speakers make the case that the problem is not individual malice but a business model built on growth, revenue, and shareholder pressure. They describe how hard it is to reverse course, then argue for regulation, data taxes, and outlawing certain markets.
注目の表現
set out toput the genie back in the bottleat the end of the dayde facto
00:00 / 03:31Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
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このシーンの表現
put the genie back in the bottle
to undo something already released
The argument has just counted the cost of shutting the service down, and lands the point with an image instead of a policy word.
You can't put the genie back in the bottle once the code is public.
このシーンの他の表現
- set out to
to start out intending to do
- at the end of the day
when everything is considered
- de facto
in practice, though not officially
- defer to
to let someone else decide
- profit at all costs
gain regardless of the damage
このシーンのメモ一覧
47 行のセリフに 29 件のメモ
the way a company makes its money
It's just the business model that has a problem.when actually tried not practice or a clinic; it means in real operation
But you can't, in practice, put the genie back in the bottle.Let the first three words blur; the beat lands on day.
You can make some tweaks, but at the end of the day,compared with the previous quarter not a fraction; each quarter measured against the last
you've gotta grow revenue and usage, quarter over quarter. It's...to increase income from sales
you've gotta grow revenue and usage, quarter over quarter. It's...Hit both nouns; let and shrink to a hum between them.
you've gotta grow revenue and usage, quarter over quarter. It's...have got to — Spoken-only contraction; never in a contract.
you've gotta grow revenue and usage, quarter over quarter. It's...the ... the ... comparison: Two comparatives are locked together, so growth itself becomes the reason change gets harder.
The bigger it gets, the harder it is for anyone to change.stuck inside a system you cannot leave
What I see is a bunch of people who are trapped by a business model,a lot of people — Fine among friends; in reports use a number of.
What I see is a bunch of people who are trapped by a business model,a financial reason to act a certain way
an economic incentive, and shareholder pressure that makes it almost impossible to do something else.relative clause: The clause attaches to the last noun only, so read the list first and the consequence second.
an economic incentive, and shareholder pressure that makes it almost impossible to do something else.to drive how everything works not literal rule; it means it drives every decision
Financial incentives kind of run the world,sort of, more or less — A hedge that softens a claim; drop it when you want to sound firm.
Financial incentives kind of run the world,to reset what pays off and what costs not standing in line again; it means redirecting what rewards people
so any solution to this problem has to realign the financial incentives.a huge amount of — Conversational exaggeration; formal writing prefers a large amount of.
The phone company has tons of sensitive data about you,each individual item of data
It gives them a fiscal reason to not acquire every piece of data on the planet.to lag far behind
The law runs way behind on these things,entitlements a group holds
but what I know is the current situation exists not for the protection of users, but for the protection of the rights and privileges of these gigantic, incredibly wealthy companies.not ... but ... contrast: The first half is the claim being rejected; the second half is what he says is really going on.
but what I know is the current situation exists not for the protection of users, but for the protection of the rights and privileges of these gigantic, incredibly wealthy companies.Run gonna straight into defer to; keep the whole phrase in one push.
Are we always gonna defer to the richest, most powerful people?on some occasions, this does happen
Or are we ever gonna say, "You know, there are times when there is a national interest.to weaken something gradually literally to dig under a wall; here to hollow something out
These markets undermine democracy, and they undermine freedom, and they should be outlawed.damage that follows no matter what
Because they have inevitable destructive consequences.planning that ignores the long run
This is short-term thinking based on this religion of profit at all costs, as if somehow, magically,purely for one's own gain not a hobby; it means acting only for one's own advantage
each corporation acting in its selfish interest is going to produce the best result.the final small thing that triggers a reaction not actual straw; the final provocation that forces a response
What's frightening, and what hopefully is the last straw that will make us wake up as a civilization to how flawed this theory has been in the first placeFlatten can be to almost nothing; land hard on mined.
Our attention can be mined.「Interviewees Call for Regulation」を読み解く
What's really going on
The scene keeps shifting the frame from bad intentions to structure. The opening concession — "I don't think these guys set out to be evil" — is strategically important: it makes the following argument harder to dismiss as a personal attack. From there, the argument piles up constraints: growth targets, shareholder value, competition. The line "There's no fiscal reason for these companies to change" turns regulation into a matter of incentives rather than morality. Even the image of the genie suggests that once a system is built, individual choices inside it are limited. The charge comes from the mismatch between register and scale: the vocabulary stays policy-talk — business model, incentives, regulation — while the claims reach democracy, freedom, and the planet.
Theme
PowerRegulation is framed as a contest between public interest and the richest, most powerful companies.
MoneyFinancial incentives and shareholder pressure are described as the real reason companies cannot change course.
発音のポイント
- at the end — Let the first three words blur; the beat lands on day.
- revenue and usage — Hit both nouns; let and shrink to a hum between them.
- gonna defer to — Run gonna straight into defer to; keep the whole phrase in one push.
- can be mined — Flatten can be to almost nothing; land hard on mined.
But you can't, in practice, put the genie back in the bottle.Once a service is built and embedded in daily life, undoing it is practically impossible: you could shut it down, but you cannot restore the previous state.
The bigger it gets, the harder it is for anyone to change.Scale creates its own momentum: the larger the system, the more people, money, and expectations are locked into keeping it running.
Are we always gonna defer to the richest, most powerful people?A rhetorical question that challenges the habit of letting wealth and power set the rules instead of public interest.
These markets undermine democracy, and they undermine freedom, and they should be outlawed.Certain data-driven markets are described as a structural threat to democracy and freedom, not just a nuisance, so the call is to ban them.
Our attention can be mined.Attention is treated as a resource to be extracted, a compact image for the business model behind the screen.
このシーンについての質問
Why is regulation presented as necessary here?
Because companies are said to have "no fiscal reason" to change. Regulation is framed as the way to realign financial incentives when voluntary self-regulation is dismissed as "just a lie."
What does "put the genie back in the bottle" mean in this scene?
It means the change is practically irreversible. The line says you could shut a service down and destroy shareholder value, but "in practice" you cannot put the genie back in the bottle.
Is the scene arguing that companies should not make money?
No. One line says it is okay for companies to be focused on making money; what is called not okay is the lack of regulation, rules, and competition.
What comparison is used to explain taxing data?
Data collection and processing are compared to a water bill: you pay according to how much water you use, so companies would be taxed on the data assets they hold.
Why mention human organs and slaves?
Those are examples of markets that are outlawed because they have inevitable destructive consequences, which makes the proposal sound less radical.
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