Yoyodyne Inc. Represents The Modern World

Last year in Mr. O'Connors Pre-AP Global Studies class, a parent came in who worked for a tire company to talk to us about how their company functioned. I'm not quite sure who's mom it was, or what company she worked for, but the things she said I remember very clearly. Having just come back from the Amazon trip, we began to learn about how companies were deforesting parts of the Amazon forest. It is even predicted that we won't have an Amazon forest soon. I remember listening to the lady talk about how the company that she worked for had made a new type of tire which was more eco-friendly. She went on about how her company was the most eco-friendly tire company out there, which ultimately made the company she worked for sound like the logical company to choose from when the time came to choose a tire. I then asked her a question which shocked her. Was the company really doing everything possible to be eco-friendly? I understand that your company may be more eco-friendly, but in reality are they losing money to try and be eco friendly? I don't remember exactly what she said but her answer was pretty much saying that there was a limit to where the eco-friendly matter could really get to. A company may try to be eco-friendly, but they will immediately stop once they realize that they could lose money or are losing money to try and help the environment.

While reading chapter four of The Crying of Lot 49, I read something that made me remember the above conversation that had taken place the year before."Koteks explained how every engineer, in signing the Yoyodyne contract, also signed away the patent rights to any inventions he might come up with" (67) This is showing how companies are only interested in profits. This was just another example of how companies want to maximize their profits without any concern about anything else. In a sense, they are 'stealing' ideas because they are forcing their workers to not be able to use their ideas. They are being forced to have the company have the rights for the ideas that they came up with. Yoyodyne doesn't want anyone stealing their ideas, yet they steal their people's ideas. I found this to be completely absurd.

It was just another example of how companies really only care about their profits and will do anything to maximize it. Even steal ideas from others. I really can't believe this because it shows me to what level the world is slowly getting to, and instead of improving the earlier mistakes, we get even more competitive, ultimately damaging ourselves in the long run. The author is satirically making fun of these companies. Making its name Yoyodyne is enforcing the fact that it's a selfish company, only interested in its profit.