Power: The Only Commodity in the FFVII World
While spinning some ideas about this game, I stumbled across this little thought:
How does Shinra put people out of a job?
Something we hear from a number of slum workers and people in the less corporate towns is that Shinra and the influx of Mako reactors has led to the end of pretty much all employment in every area.
This always kind of nagged at me, because all the Mako reactors do is provide power. Now, granted, power makes life easier, but it by no means eliminates jobs. Sure, places like Corel, centered around Coal mining, would be put out of business (just as coal would if we were able to harness cold fusion or something similar).
But why would business halt in a place like Kalm? Mythril is durable, lightweight, and seems to be relatively easily machined. You'd think that having more power would give more cause to mine it, not less. After all, where does Shinra get the materials for its deathbots or supercannons?
Yet everywhere we go, seemingly, work has stopped. Why?
The answer struck me: Work stopped because of the robots. FFVII's world has advanced to the state that independent operating robots are commonplace. Their are tons of them. Take the Custom Sweepers outside Midgar. What is their purpose?
How many robots have been built in this world, and, more to the point, how many do we see fail? How many simply breakdown? And, of those that are, how many do you think get repaired by other machines?
Shinra is the only company still in business because it's the only company still producing one of the only commodities of value on the market: Power. If you keep the robots running, they run everything else. From defense, to food production (after all, the only farm we see is a Chocobo Farm which raises racing animals), almost everything is driven by the robots.
This isn't a commentary of an evil corporation driving everything else out of business, it's a statement of the growing use of automation leading to cultural and workforce stagnation.
The true evil of the Mako Reactor is that it is a seemingly one time project. Once built, it will keep going, seemingly indefinitely. By providing unlimited power, Shinra has kept itself in control, but at the same time it's phased out industries like coal mining, which were some of the only jobs left to humanity.
Is it any wonder why jobs like security guard or train station attendant are so highly valued? It's because they know that, at any time, they can be replaced by another robot, and they'll never get another job.
