Is this game hinting at the future?

[cyberdog_900]

Its looking like the military is being replaced by private contractors and private military.
In america its going that way for sure.
Globalisation is happening right now, big corporate companys buying out the small fish.
In the not to distant future the entire planet will use one central government and military.
Just like mantel.
While it might onlybe a game I see world where one company controls the military,drug research,media and technology a bit disturbing.

[cyberdog_900]

Its looking like the military is being replaced by private contractors and private military.
In america its going that way for sure.
Globalisation is happening right now, big corporate companys buying out the small fish.
In the not to distant future the entire planet will use one central government and military.
Just like mantel.
While it might onlybe a game I see world where one company controls the military,drug research,media and technology a bit disturbing.

[BuddyFlashheart]

Take a look at for example http://carlyle.com, and check out how many different commercial entities in how many different sectors Carlyle is involved with. I'm guessing that HAZE offers a somewhat satirical reflection of this (in the vein of Verhoeven, if the teaser trailer is any indication), although I guess Neko is the only one here who really knows what's up.

I agree that it's a scary idea; a company that controls healthcare and military power/manufacture, and that has a financial interest in supplying construction and power services, would such a company have a genuine interest in peace and welfare?

I don't think we'll ever have to worry about one concentrated power though; that'd go against human nature and I don't think it could hold for very long. Power demands almost constant challenge, or it will become complacent and brittle. But I could definitely see these investment companies grow even larger in terms of power and influence, and it doesn't seem all that unrealistic to think that what we now consider market competition could turn into active armed hostility, for financial growth.

[deded999]

Does any military company have an interest in peace? Or have they an interest in continuous warfare to sell their products? I've heard suggestions that the recent Israeli war was as much about testing new weapons as it was about defending their borders, (their were reports that certain attacks seemed to be made with new-style weapons) and history is littered with manufactured wars. Do a little reading and things can seem very different than you would at first assume...

I'd love to know what books/information Rob Yescombe has used to develop his plot/scenario for Haze, (and presumably others in the Haze team). It certainly strikes a chord with me - another reason I'm interested in Haze.

[BuddyFlashheart]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by deded999:
Does any military company have an interest in peace? Or have they an interest in continuous warfare to sell their products? I've heard suggestions that the recent Israeli war was as much about testing new weapons as it was about defending their borders, (their were reports that certain attacks seemed to be made with new-style weapons) and history is littered with manufactured wars. Do a little reading and things can seem very different than you would at first assume...

I'd love to know what books/information Rob Yescombe has used to develop his plot/scenario for Haze, (and presumably others in the Haze team). It certainly strikes a chord with me - another reason I'm interested in Haze. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, with a military company like for example Heckler & Koch or Lockheed Martin, at least you know where you stand. I'm honestly more concerned about the investment firms, especially the ones that are privately held. And with investment groups often usurping privately held firms, it gives the group itself a level of stealth that can't be healthy.

The problem is that corporate integrity and privacy allows investment firms to selectively craft its outward face, as well as remain individually blameless. Taking one of these investment firms at face value, it could easily be considered little more than a far reaching investment group. It's only when you make a dedicated effort to sort the threads that you can begin to see the greater picture. Hidden beneath tales of mutually beneficial take-overs you can find evidence of controlling interest in companies that operate in markets ranging from avionics to riot control, from health-care to security services, and so forth. Now I'm in no way claiming that any of these groups could be realistically likened to something like Mantel here, but the capacity and capability is there. And there are many of these investment groups that share similar levels of reach and influence, and I wonder what "competition" will entail in the future. I can see these companies having an interest in peace, but then mostly as a vessel for growth in the construction and medical sectors.

[deded999]

Looking at the history of drug companies in Africa and the developing world doesn't bode all that well for the medical sector in my view.

The other factor in large military manufacturers is that they invariably get funding from governments, bodies that have massive amounts of your cash, with little real oversight; the well-documented links between highly ranked government figures and arms companies, (like the aforementioned Carlyle Group), shows how easily corruption in this area can occur, not to mention the possibilities of political action being highly conducive to arms company profits and those of their political cronies. This unholy alliance can exert massive power in many areas of our society but with little in the way of criticism or control.