America 1982-Chapter 102 - 18: Don’t Rush to Consider Social Responsibility (Second Update)_2
"This sort of thing is pretty common. Last month, the guy at DTS next door developed a little app that could add text to pictures. Sold it for two hundred thousand. From development to sale, it took less than two weeks. And the guy’s initial intention with the software was just to write ’You’re a slut’ on a photo of his girlfriend who was cheating on him and then post it all around the school. If he wrote it by hand, he was afraid that the police could identify him through handwriting analysis, so he decided to print it with computer fonts, making it untraceable by the cops," Eric said to an excited Jason: 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
"Every time we go to the bar for drinks and run into him, we can hear him celebrating that his ex-girlfriend is a slut because it made him two hundred thousand and then he got himself an even prettier girlfriend."
After hearing this, Jason said enviously, "I’m happy for him."
...
"Tommy!" Eric glared, looking at Tommy Hawk who was sitting in front of the computer checking various feedback messages, his tone angry:
"You can ask them if they want to invest, instead of buying the rights to it, but you can’t... you can’t tell them that your next step is to place ads on the back covers of ’Seeking Pleasure,’ ’Children and Parents,’ and ’Metropolis’! Who using a computer would buy these trash magazines! You put it on ’Playboy,’ I wouldn’t be mad—at least their interviews have depth. ’Seeking Pleasure’! F*ck! You’re treating the SSD-2 we all worked hard on like a whore! You’re disrespecting it. You’re disrespecting us and the brothers who supported us after graduation! You could refuse, say you’re not ready to sell it now, I’d understand and support you, but you can’t treat me like an idiot!"
Jason carefully observed the situation and thoughtfully piled things like baseball bats and boxing gloves near them, so they could easily grab them, after which he silently sat back on his bed with a bag of chips, waiting for the fight to break out.
Eric was universally recognized as a nice guy by the rookies and rarely lost his temper. His anger stemmed from the fact that when he happily introduced Tommy to an SSD alumnus who wanted to learn about Tommy’s software and maybe sweet-talk his boss into buying it, so Tommy could make some money, Tommy hoped they would invest instead. When Eric asked about Tommy’s plan, Tommy actually told him about advertising in those useless magazines, which was the true cause of Eric’s fury. He felt that Tommy was always joking around, not showing him respect or trust.
’Seeking Pleasure’ is California’s most popular * trade magazine, with its biggest customer groups being * seekers and call girls. The seekers buy the magazine to get an understanding of the market and make horizontal comparisons; the call girls preparing to take the plunge look for entertainment company recruitment ads or simply purchase advertising space to solicit clients themselves.
The latter two magazines are America’s old bargain family women’s magazines, having been a main source for lower-middle-class women to get news and life skills since the Great Depression, featuring articles that tell women which foods are cheap yet filling so their kids won’t go hungry, what part-time jobs they can take to earn some pocket money, how to care for multiple children, where to buy cheap clothes, and how housewives can save money. The ads published are for various discounted bargain goods.
But now, Tommy Hawk was telling him he planned to advertise the software in these magazines. Wasn’t this just a joke at his expense?
Tommy stood up, took out a cigarette and offered one to Eric, his tone softening, "Can you let me finish? Eric? I can give you a reasonable explanation."
"It’s best that way," said Eric, finishing his curse, and then he took the cigarette Tommy offered, lit it, and sat in Tommy’s chair, ready to hear Tommy’s explanation.
Tommy leaned against the foot of the bed, looking at Eric, "Firstly, I don’t want to just sell the rights for a quick buck, or to put it another way, even if I do sell, I’d want to make a fuss first. I can’t let it go for just a few hundred thousand. If it’s multiplied several times, perhaps a few million, I might consider it. If we want to sell for a high price, we need data. When those people want to buy it, they will ask about software sales volume, revenue, and the like. Given Silicon Valley’s market this year, as long as we sell ten thousand units, we can get at least three and a half million dollars for it. A few hundred thousand or one and a half million, which would you choose? Obviously, the latter," he said.
"Unless you drop out now to start a company, you simply don’t have time to pitch it," Eric, exhaling a cloud of smoke, said to Tommy, "So, are you planning to drop out?"
Tommy lit a cigarette for himself, took a deep drag, and then said to Eric:
"No, the current plan is to ask fellow students to test it, to make it as user-friendly as possible, and at the same time, I’ve asked Holly Kina from the Blonde Society, the blonde girl from Freshman Night. She studies Social Engineering, part-time at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research in the Engineering School. She’s helping me to take the software over there, to have the teachers and guest lecturers try it out. If the feedback is also good and they are interested in supporting the project, I could probably get fifty thousand in startup support. Then I would find active women’s rights charitable organizations within Stanford University. Blonde Society is well acquainted with those organizations. I’ve already had Renee help me learn about the situation. If possible, I’ll collaborate with them to set up a charitable training company. I’ll use the startup funds to purchase a batch of the cheapest computers to invest, while they manage the operation. This way, the daily management will be the responsibility of students from charitable organizations on rotation. As a co-founder, I don’t need to waste too much time on it; there’s not much to manage anyway. I can continue my studies as usual."
"The surface goal of the training company is to encourage women to leave the home and seek equal job opportunities, but the deeper purpose is actually to pay less tax. The training won’t charge a fee, but the women will need to buy the software, inexpensively priced at $49.99, which is almost a tenth of WordStar’s price. Even the lowest class call girl could afford it after serving one client. And I plan to purchase fifty of the cheapest compatible computers, selling for six hundred each, which means thirty thousand in capital to support the training plan. This means we could profit after selling just a thousand copies. After the training, the charitable organizations could also help those women find jobs. Everyone benefits: I get some cash, the charitable organizations get recognition, the women get jobs, and the software gets sales volume," he said.
"You’re using a group of lower-class women to challenge the current white-collar clerks? Turning their jobs into something as cheap as a fast-food server’s? When capitalists see even prostitutes can operate computers, those clerks’ nearly three hundred a week will quickly drop below two hundred," Eric said.
"Smart money isn’t easy to come by, Eric, but money from the poor is. The poorer they are, the more desperate they are to find opportunities to change their destiny. If they want to make money, they need to snatch those jobs from the clerks. I’m just helping the proletarian women by providing them with weapons, giving them the audacity to snatch money from the bourgeois, all the while driving down the prices," Tommy nodded, not denying it:
"If those clerks want to maintain their elite status, they’d better learn some new skills. California might not have fifty thousand billionaires, but it definitely has more than fifty thousand housewives or call girls. Fifty bucks for a chance to find a respectable job, not to be scolded by a husband as useless, not to rely on selling their bodies anymore—there will be those willing to take it. Not all poor people resign themselves to sink forever," he said.
After pondering for a moment, Eric suddenly thought of a question, "What if those women can’t find jobs? I mean, though it sounds like the white-collar industry will rapidly decrease in value, what if they can’t find any?"
Tommy matter-of-factly said, "Of course, they go back to being housewives or call girls~ Don’t rush into considering social responsibility before becoming capitalists or politicians, Eric. What we want is for this thing to be sold at a high price or to attract large investments based on sales numbers, not to truly commit ourselves to solving the employment problems of women in California."
