During the Great Sorrow, as the advanced civilization behind the Big Move provides everyone with a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for three Galactic Standard Years (GSY), the seeds for the return of traditional economics would be sown almost immediately, as human nature, particularly driven by ambition, innovation, and the need for social hierarchy, would spur rapid economic growth and corporate expansion.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of how huge multinational corporations might develop during the course of the Great Sorrow, despite the initial promise of universal financial security:
Phase 1: Initial Recalibration and the UBI Buffer
UBI and Stabilization
The UBI, guaranteed for three GSYs, would provide a financial safety net, giving the displaced populations across Arrakis, Terminus, and Gaia the psychological security needed to adjust to their new environment:
- Initial Economic Pauses: The first few months of the Great Sorrow would likely see a temporary pause in traditional economic competition. With the UBI in place, many people would focus on immediate adaptation—settling into new homes, understanding the planetary ecosystems, and recalibrating their lives.
- Emergence of Necessity-Based Services: Even though the UBI provides a buffer, human needs would quickly push a resurgence in local economies, starting with necessity-based services such as food production, construction, energy, and healthcare. The localized economies on each planet would initially form out of pragmatic necessity as people seek to build communities and infrastructure.
Opportunistic Corporations
Even in this phase, ambitious entrepreneurs and existing corporate entities would see massive opportunities to stake claims in this newly forming economy:
- Survival of Multinational Giants: Some multinational corporations from Earth, like Apple, Disney, Tesla, Amazon, or Alibaba, would likely survive the Big Move through legacy infrastructures—pre-established tech, entertainment, and logistics networks. They would take advantage of the UBI period by offering products and services that improve quality of life or provide entertainment, especially since people no longer need to focus on basic survival during this phase.
- New Ventures: At the same time, ambitious individuals or startup ventures on each planet would quickly capitalize on innovation, resource extraction, or localized services. The incentive to accumulate wealth and power, even with UBI in place, remains strong due to innate human competitiveness and social status-building instincts.
Phase 2: Early Consolidation (Year 2)
By the second year, traditional economic structures would reassert themselves, driven by human ambition, resource competition, and the need to innovate beyond the basic UBI.
Technology and Infrastructure
- Infrastructure Megaprojects: The demands of creating viable cities, transportation systems, energy networks, and communications would lead to massive corporate competition in the infrastructure sector. Companies focused on building energy grids, spaceports, housing complexes, and even terraforming projects would become the earliest movers in the economy, often partnering with or replacing state-sponsored initiatives.
- Technology Giants: Tech companies would play a significant role in reestablishing global (or interplanetary) communications and entertainment systems. Giants like Apple, Google, or even telecommunications firms could rapidly consolidate power by offering advanced technologies, entertainment, and connectivity services. With the UBI providing security for basic needs, people would shift their consumption toward entertainment, digital services, and consumer electronics, rapidly pushing these corporations to expand.
Corporate Consolidation and Mergers
- Mergers and Acquisitions: By the second GSY, traditional economic forces like capitalism and corporate consolidation would drive growth. Multinational corporations would merge to pool resources, technologies, and intellectual property, forming massive conglomerates that span multiple planets.
- Monopoly Formation: Some sectors, particularly those tied to planetary infrastructure and resource extraction, could see the formation of monopolies or oligopolies as a few dominant corporations come to control key industries. These companies would wield immense power as they create the very foundations of each planet’s economy and infrastructure.
Social Stratification via Corporate Power
Even though the UBI would still be in place, social stratification based on corporate affiliation or employment would emerge. People employed by these powerful multinational corporations could:
- Secure Additional Income beyond the UBI, gaining access to luxury goods and services.
- Climb Socially, leveraging their corporate roles to gain influence and power within newly formed planetary societies.
Those who remain dependent on UBI alone may become passive consumers, contributing to the power of corporations by purchasing goods and services, but they may also feel excluded from the new economic elite, sparking a growing divide between different social classes.
Phase 3: Full Return of Capitalism (Year 3 and Beyond)
As the third GSY arrives and the UBI nears its end, traditional capitalism and corporate dominance would reemerge on a massive scale. By this point, the UBI is no longer enough to sustain people’s growing desires for luxury, status, and security.
Corporate Behemoths Dominate
- Corporations as States: By this stage, many corporations, especially those controlling resources, technology, and planetary infrastructure, would act as quasi-governments on their respective planets. These corporations would have a major hand in dictating planetary policies, managing large portions of the workforce, and even controlling essential services.
- Interplanetary Corporations: Large corporations would expand beyond a single planet, making them interplanetary behemoths. For example, tech companies or logistics firms like SpaceX might be responsible for interplanetary travel and trade, establishing a web of commerce connecting Arrakis, Terminus, and Gaia.
Trade and Resource Competition
The planets themselves would specialize in certain resources, technologies, and services, which would feed into interplanetary trade:
- Arrakis might focus on mining or terraforming technology due to its desert-like conditions and scarcity of water, leading to massive corporate interests in resource extraction.
- Gaia, with its agricultural potential, could see the rise of food megacorporations controlling farming, livestock, and bioengineering.
- Terminus, being heavily populated with post-Soviet people, could become a center of industrial development, producing machinery, vehicles, and other heavy industries, potentially spurring corporate powerhouses in manufacturing.
Cultural and Ideological Branding
Beyond resources, cultural industries such as entertainment, media, and fashion would take off. Multinational corporations that control cultural output, such as Disney, would use entertainment to unite people across planets under shared ideologies or narratives, but also to expand consumerism:
- Corporations could influence cultural identity by branding products as planetary essentials (e.g., “Arrakis Brand Water” or “Gaian Organic Produce”), appealing to local pride while maintaining a global (or interplanetary) market.
Corporate Impact on The Great Sorrow
Exploitation of Vulnerability
During the Great Sorrow, corporations would likely exploit people’s emotional vulnerabilities. As individuals mourn the loss of their home planets and adjust to new realities, corporations could:
- Market escapism products (e.g., virtual reality, entertainment, drugs) to help people cope with their sorrow.
- Develop therapy services or self-help products as a booming industry, using psychology to tap into people’s need for comfort.
- Push consumerism as a way to fill the emotional void, creating a culture of distraction from sorrow through consumption.
Acceleration of Economic Inequality
The resurgence of corporate capitalism would also accelerate economic inequality. Even with UBI, the divide between those working for multinational corporations and those relying solely on the basic income would grow:
- Corporate employees would secure higher-paying roles, gain access to luxury goods, and enjoy social privileges.
- Non-corporate workers might become second-class citizens, locked out of the economy’s upper echelons, despite the temporary security of UBI.
Corruption and Corporate Influence
As corporations grow in power, there would be a blurring of lines between the state and corporate interests. Corporations could influence planetary governments or even dominate local governance structures, shaping policy in their favor. This corporate dominance could also lead to widespread corruption, as governments become dependent on corporate revenues, technology, and infrastructure.
Conclusion: The Corporate Takeover of Post-Move Society
While the UBI provides a temporary buffer, traditional economic forces, led by multinational corporations, would reassert themselves long before the three GSYs are up. These corporations, leveraging resources, innovation, and human ambition, would rebuild the economy on a massive scale, controlling everything from infrastructure and technology to culture and daily life. By the end of the Great Sorrow, these corporations would be not only economic behemoths but also key players in shaping the social and political future of humanity.
